Posted on 06/12/2017 9:42:21 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I clearly didn’t anticipate just how lopsided the vote in Puerto Rico’s referendum was going to wind up being yesterday. When the polls closed, headlines began showing up in social media calling it a “landslide” in favor of abandoning the island’s territorial status and taking their place as the USA’s 51st state. And at least in terms of the percentages involved it wasn’t even close. (Associated Press)
Puerto Rico’s governor is vowing to turn the U.S. territory into the 51st state after statehood won in a non-binding referendum hit by a boycott and low turnout that raised questions about the vote’s legitimacy…
More than half a million people voted for statehood during Sunday’s referendum, followed by nearly 7,800 votes for free association/independence and more than 6,800 votes for the current territorial status. Voter turnout was just 23 percent.
It was the lowest level of participation in any election in Puerto Rico since 1967, noted Carlos Vargas Ramos, an associate with the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in New York. He told The Associated Press that even among voters who supported statehood, turnout was lower this year compared with the previous referendum in 2012.
So… 97%. Yes, that’s a landslide no matter what definition you choose to employ. When I wrote about this referendum yesterday morning I was foolish enough to think that the most recent polls might be predictive of the result. A majority favored statehood, but as usual it was a relatively slender majority. And among those who favored statehood it wasn’t a terribly enthusiastic endorsement. There was also talk of a boycott of the election among those who favored either keeping things the way they are now or going for full independence. But there’s always talk of a boycott, right? Nobody ever takes it seriously.
So much for that idea. Less than a quarter of the registered voters showed up and they were almost entirely those pushing for statehood. So what happens now? The island’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, thinks he knows.
“The United States of America will have to obey the will of our people!” Rossello yelled to a crowd clutching U.S. flags and dancing to a tropical jingle that promoted statehood.
Sorry to disappoint you, Governor, but that’s not actually the case. The decision is up to Washington and things don’t look good for statehood any time soon. There are two elements to the hurdle Puerto Rico is facing and it comes down to practicalities and politics. On the practicality side, as we discussed yesterday, taking on Puerto Rico as a state right now won’t be popular because they’re on the verge of bankruptcy. The move would saddle the rest of the country with yet another huge debt we don’t need at the moment.
And then there’s the politics. Even if the territory was flush with cash and ready to further bolster the economy, the GOP is in charge of both chambers of Congress and the Oval Office. Puerto Rico runs heavily Democratic in terms of political preferences and bringing them in as a full state would pretty much automatically mean two more Democratic senators and another slug of five seats in the house. And, of course, that would give them seven electoral votes in the next presidential election, almost certainly going to the Democratic candidate. Do you really think that the GOP is going to give a hearty thumbs up to that plan?
Let’s just say I wouldn’t hold my breath. Statehood may be coming for Puerto Rico, but I’d wager that they’re going to need to straighten out their financial mess first and then make a new push if and when the Democrats are next in control of Washington. Until then the non-binding referendum will probably remain very heavy on the “non-binding” part.
Even for US presidential elections the % that choose not to vote is bigger than any single political party. It’s been that way for a long time, we haven’t had even 65% eligible voter turnout since 1908, most of the time it has been way less than that.
Freegards
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_government-debt_crisis#Cessation_of_federal_subsidies
For much of the 20th century Puerto Rico was subject to favorable tax laws from the US federal government, which essentially acted to subsidize the island's economy. In 1996, US President Bill Clinton signed legislation phasing out important parts of the favorable federal tax code over a ten-year period ending in 2006. The end of the subsidies led to companies fleeing the island which itself subsequently led to tax shortfalls. At first, the Puerto Rican government tried to make up for the shortfall by issuing bonds. The government was able to issue an unusually large number of bonds, due to dubious underwriting from financial institutions such as Spain's Santander Bank, UBS, and Citigroup. Eventually the debt burden became so great that the island was unable to pay interest on the bonds it had issued.
It's not like they're blameless, but the problem started with Clinton and Congress.
That's an idea whose time will never come. Look how well it worked out for Canada. Twice as many $ spent to say 1/2 as much in any public space and a very prickly relationship between Canadians of French & English heritage.
One of the things in my wishlist is for President Trump to formally declare English as the language of the USA and stop the requirements for court translators, hospital translators, documents from the DMV & other G'vt agencies in 26 languages and English as a second language in schools.
She wasn’t bad looking in high school. In the few decades since then, she’s gained a lot of weight, got into drugs, had kids with multiple dads and ran up a lot of credit card debt. Your time has come though. She’s willing to move in and let you pay her bills for her.
“The United States of America will have to obey the will of our people!”, That’s not how it works buddy. Better get used to it.
The Puerto Rico Shuffle.
A new dance by the Democrats.
If the people of Puerto Rico want to do the right thing, then they should throw their politicians (including former politicians and their families) in jail and confiscate all of their wealth.
Until then, forget it.
Congress is not about to offer statehood and Puerto Ricans know that. Then why waste a beautiful Sunday voting on something that is never going to happen?
We got PR and the Philippines from Spain after Spanish American War. Wilson’s war was very unpopular and he could see that relying on volunteers was just not working. The Irish didn’t want to fight for England and the Germans didn’t want to fight their cousins. Wilson’s solution was to give PR 1/2 citizenship which was just enough to DRAFT you PR men. America freed the Philippines in 1946 but we still hold PR. Why? Let them go and be a protectorate of Castro’s. Let’s see how that works out. Anyway I don’t care if 100% of them voted 100% for statehood the answer is NO!
Puerto rico is an economic basket case.
Along to lines as Haiti
77% are holding out for a Better Deal ,LOL
They want statehood for all the freebies and ALSO to roll out the welcome mat for all the ‘refugees’ from Europe and Africa-at our continued and increased expense... They’ll posture, pose and represent themselves as “AMERICA”, to the rest of the world
You say that then proceed to show that it has already happened. There have been a few congressmen try to pass legislation that would make English the official language without success for 50 years.
You expose the gap between the direction SJW have been able to drive the country and the Constitution. We can still turn away from the cliff.
What next for PR ?
23 % turnout is hard to read.
Alaska, Hawaii, Arizona and Wisconsin had similar turnouts and lesser percentage during their statehood votes.
This is just part of the long haul. We’re just going to keep pestering as in the Tennessee Plan until we’re admitted.
We got PR and the Philippines from Spain after Spanish American War. Wilson’s war was very unpopular and he could see that relying on volunteers was just not working. The Irish didn’t want to fight for England and the Germans didn’t want to fight their cousins. Wilson’s solution was to give PR 1/2 citizenship which was just enough to DRAFT you PR men. America freed the Philippines in 1946 but we still hold PR. Why? Let them go and be a protectorate of Castro’s. Let’s see how that works out. Anyway I don’t care if 100% of them voted 100% for statehood the answer is NO!
lacking the initiative to go vote, the Puerto Ricans in essence voted against any action.
I can sense the panic among many FReepers about Puerto Rico coming into the Union as a Democrat state. Would they feel the same panic if the island was a Republican stronghold, lousy economy and all?
At this rate, we might as well goad all those deep-blue West Coast and New England states into seceding from the Union. That would certainly purify the Congress!
I think that will be a tall order after PR chased the US Navy away...
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