Puerto Rico, the 51st state?

[SoonerTexan]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...486_story.html

How did I miss this? I absolutely have no thoughts on the subject except that I kind of like the evenness of the number 50 and it might be cool to be able to go to a tropical destination (besides Florida or Hawaii) without leaving the US.

Thoughts?

[ladymoreta]

I haven't heard anything about this either! I kind of lean towards the idea that if another country wants our financial or military assistance, they should apply for statehood. Otherwise, I don't think we should get involved with other nations. So, yay for someone wanting to join us!

[SoonerTexan]

The last time I heard about it, I was in elementary school.

[MsSassyBaskets]

Whenever I really think about it I'm shocked that we still have a colony -- ahem, excuse me, "Commonwealth". We can govern them and legislate them, but they can't vote for president? Seems only right that they become a state, if that's what they want.

ETA: You can already travel there without a passport and without changing your money...

[SoonerTexan]

I think they've voted Statehood down before

[MsSassyBaskets]

I think they've voted Statehood down before

Yeah, I think it's been an ongoing conversation in recent years. Still surprises me though!

[HouseofWool]

We actually have a boatload of territories. (Most of which are island, so excuse the awful pun.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territo..._United_States Scroll down about half way to see current territories.

[PrincessFiona]

So this is terrible, but in this financial day and time I have to step back and wonder how it would impact us financially as a country to take on Puerto Rico as a state. I know ... shoot me now. Aren't they pretty impoverished?
http://juliorvarela.com/2011/10/28/n...social-crisis/

I see the benefits to Puerto Rico of joining the US, but I don't see how it will help the country in the long-run (or at least the short run). With our debt, tax burden and the coming changes to our own welfare and healthcare systems I don't know that it's the greatest option for us.

Kris

[oceanchild]

We actually have a boatload of territories. (Most of which are island, so excuse the awful pun.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territo..._United_States Scroll down about half way to see current territories.

And don't forget about DC, where you pay taxes but aren't represented in Congress...

[Pollyanna]

So this is terrible, but in this financial day and time I have to step back and wonder how it would impact us financially as a country to take on Puerto Rico as a state. I know ... shoot me now. Aren't they pretty impoverished?
http://juliorvarela.com/2011/10/28/n...social-crisis/

I see the benefits to Puerto Rico of joining the US, but I don't see how it will help the country in the long-run (or at least the short run). With our debt, tax burden and the coming changes to our own welfare and healthcare systems I don't know that it's the greatest option for us.

Kris

Yep.

Kris, we are on a streak of agreements today

[Deebs]

I guess I'm even worse. My thought was, "they must want free cell phones down there, too.". Our country is struggling, financially, and I think these are the kind of questions we need to ask. I kind of view this as a big scale version of, "can we afford to adopt a child?".

[GrayMatterWife]

This is political plum for the Democrats. PR becomes a state? It is guaranteed blue. PR statehood gets voted down, Republicans will be called racist. I'm sure Obama would love to see this become an issue. Evil Republicans hate Puerto Ricans.

Ugh.

[SoonerTexan]

It is a BIG cultural difference. People may think NY and TX as worlds apart, but I wonder how it would go over.

[bobk]

It is a BIG cultural difference. People may think NY and TX as worlds apart, but I wonder how it would go over.

This. The language difference is a huge part of it. Just take a look at Quebec vs. the rest of Canada. It's complicated to say the least.