The liberal fantasy of getting 104 U.S. senators — i.e., four new assured Democrats to finish the Republican majority — is all depending on statehood being granted to Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. And whereas the push for D.C. statehood may need extra credibility inside Washington and contained in the progressive movement, the push on the mainland for Puerto Rico statehood is now largely coming from a bunch of people that lack any actual information in regards to the colony’s historical past or its long-standing independence motion.
In truth, white liberals’ newfound want to grant Puerto Rico statehood to thwart Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is simply the newest type of American colonialism. It’s not as overt as when U.S. troops invaded Puerto Rico in 1898. However, it’s nonetheless colonialism.
The fantasy of granting Puerto Rico statehood simply so the Senate can have extra Democratic senators reasonably than as an acknowledgment of the truth that Puerto Ricans are and at all times ought to have been equal companions within the American experiment converse to precisely what colonialism is all about: the patronizing angle that white, mainland Individuals’ political priorities are of better significance than these of the individuals who reside there, and that they often know higher than the individuals who do reside there, who need not determine what they need.
Sure, it’s true that on Election Day — Puerto Rico is, in spite of everything, a part of America, albeit not a state — 52 p.c of Puerto Ricans who went to the polls (and whose ballots weren’t amongst these undiscovered till Tuesday) answered “Yes” to the following question: “Ought to Puerto Rico be admitted instantly into the Union as a State?”
If solely, the reply to that query has been actually so clear.
The push on the mainland for Puerto Rico statehood is generally coming from individuals who lack information in regards to the colony’s historical past or independence motion.
First, the vote is nonbinding and never sanctioned by the Division of Justice — identical to the island colony’s earlier five plebiscites. So it was little greater than a reputation contest to settle political agendas inside Puerto Rico; the outcomes don’t kick in some formal clause for the statehood course of to begin or power the one entity that actually owns Puerto Rico — Congress — to behave in any approach.
In the identical election, the one pro-statehood candidate, Pedro Pierluisi, received solely 33 p.c of the vote, which was sufficient to make him the governor-elect, however hardly a majority. Juan Dalmau, the Puerto Rico independence candidate, received 14 p.c — essentially the most for an independent candidate in many years — and one other left-leaning third-party candidate, Alexandra Lúgaro, received 15 p.c. Candidates backing independence also gained within the statehouse, strongly suggesting that the seeming “majority” for statehood is hardly as extensive a sentiment because the vote relies on counsel.
One motive could be that whereas technically a vote in opposition to the query “Ought to Puerto Rico be admitted instantly into the Union as a state?” was a vote for full independence from America, the query wasn’t worded that approach. Voter data campaigns can do a lot rather; however, better-worded poll questions would truly measure voter sentiment rather a lot higher.
The place does that go away Puerto Ricans — and the mainland Individuals who abruptly need us to be a state of their union?
Statehood isn’t even an actual chance: Admitting new states requires that each chamber of Congress goes laws and that or not it’s signed by the president, an unlikely state of affairs in a Senate led by McConnell, who has mentioned a number of instances that statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico are simply including extra “full-bore socialism” to the combination.
Past that, whereas polls point out that Puerto Ricans in Florida closely favored statehood, these voters did not carry the day in that state for Biden. Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania did assist ship the state to the president-elect; however, Puerto Ricans within the Northeast (together with within New York) are usually extra anti-statehood; many who left Puerto Rico in the course of the 20th century tended to assist independence.
Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, each New York Democrats, have co-sponsored an invoice calling a mainland-manufactured push for Puerto Rican statehood a direct type of colonialism.
Actual liberals and progressives ought to be aware of all of those dynamics as an alternative to speaking about how Puerto Ricans are Americans and deserve a state that will additionally ship the Senate to Democrats. For all of the sympathy and assistance that Puerto Rico has obtained since Hurricane Maria, the progressive push for statehood is a cynical play, not a supportive transfer. By pushing for Puerto Rican statehood to learn themselves, mainland liberals are making Puerto Rico a political pawn as soon as once more. That’s what occurs with colonies.
By pushing for Puerto Rican statehood to learn themselves, mainland liberals are making Puerto Rico a political pawn as soon as once more.
President-elect Joe Biden, no less than, appears to grasp a few of these dynamics. At a Hispanic Heritage Month occasion in Central Florida in September, he mentioned, “I occur to imagine that statehood can be the best technique of guaranteeing that residents of Puerto Rico are handled equally,” and instantly added, “However the folks of Puerto Rico should determine, and America federal authorities should respect and act on that call.” This week, Biden re-emphasized the necessity for an only and binding course of.
It’s apparent that some liberals’ intentions to make Puerto Rico a state are as exploitative as a pro-statehood governor saying {that a} nonbinding reputation contest that reveals no clear mandate is the need of the folks; Biden is not going to expend political capital to assist it, particularly when thought leaders like AOC are urging the method to be led from inside Puerto Rico and never Washington.
What is evident from the election outcomes is that the folks of Puerto Rico are feeling more and more ill-served by their two-party system; they aren’t even voting on the ranges they’ve previously. Progressives don’t have to step in and declare themselves “specialists” on what Puerto Rico wants. For the final 122 years, mainland, white Individuals have confirmed up with all of the supposed solutions; Puerto Rico continues to be a colony.
Let Puerto Ricans determine for themselves what we need to do and who we need to be. As soon as we do, we are going to act and allow you to all know.
