Context: Donald Trump spewing bullshit about annexing Canada and Greenland. Meanwhile, Congress has been dragging their feet for YEARS on resolving Puerto Rico’s territorial status.

Citizens living in US territories do not receive equal representation in congress. For instance, PR has one “delegate” to the House (not an official voting member) and no senators. Taxation without representation.

Although, at this point I wouldn’t blame PR if they changed their minds about wanting to become the 51st state.

  • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.worldEnglish
    32·
    12 hours ago

    Fun battleship fact: all US battleships have been named after states except for one: BB-5, the USS Kearsarge. The original Kearsarge fought in the Civil War and sank the Confederate raider Alabama; ever since then the US Navy has always had a ship in commission named Kearsarge - presumably as a giant fuck you to the South for losing. BB-5 got the name in 1900, forever ruining an otherwise-perfect ship naming convention. For this reason, I support Puerto Rico becoming a state, but only if they rename themselves Kearsarge.

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
    6·
    16 hours ago

    While I know PR probably isn’t down for becoming a state now, we know that if they did have two senators and several house members, we’d be in a lot less shit right now. Hell, how many electrical votes would they have been in 2016 and 2024?

      • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        3·
        12 hours ago

        My understanding is that historically, the vote has been almost 50/50, but that there have been issues with the question that have thrown up doubts about the validity of the referendum conclusions. Stuff like giving the options of statehood or territory, but not independence, etc. Even the one you linked says that only around half of the population responded and over 200,000 ballots were thrown out for either being blank or invalid.

        I had thought that a significant portion of the population had been in favor of independence, especially since we came in and basically destroyed their economy. They had been one of the largest manufacturers of pharmaceuticals in the world before the US, and now I think their biggest industry is tourism, which, as someone who has lived in a tourist town for decades, is not conducive to a healthy economy.

  • theangryseal@lemmy.world
    9·
    7 hours ago

    It’s amazing to me that Hawaii has around half the population of Puerto Rico and still they aren’t a state.

    It’s sad.

  • samus12345@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    15 hours ago

    I would think Puerto Rico is ready to no longer be a commonwealth, much less a state.

  • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
    66·
    18 hours ago

    Oh I believe if you had a referendum right now, PR would go for independence. Tying yourself up to this ship would be bad news. Trump wouldn’t just bring back bombing Vieques, he’d turn the main island into a firing range.

    I wonder if he’d deport me since I have a PR birth certificate.

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
      15·
      18 hours ago

      Maybe the independence votes will grow, but since there is also still the large Puerto Rican diaspora in the US keeping close ties to the island, it would be difficult to separate from that with an independence movement. And a lot of Puerto Rican communities in the US who are eligible to vote for the president saw an uptick in support for the Republicans anyways, despite the “trash island” comment during Trump’s campaign.

      At least as of a few months ago, the symbolic vote on the island was still overwhelmingly in favor of statehood, with independence being the least supported option.

    • moody@lemmings.world
      4·
      15 hours ago

      They could become a Canadian province. We’d welcome them in, but wouldn’t force them into it against their will.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        2 hours ago

        It would make a lot of sense. Canada already has a province where the population doesn’t speak English. And Canada would definitely appreciate a place with a tropical climate in a way the US never would. Plus, 3.2 million people is easy to ignore in a country of 330 million. But, in Canada they’d be the 5th biggest province, so they’d hold a lot of sway.

        Or, at least, they could join the Commonwealth and have stronger relations with Canada, the UK, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, etc.

  • Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.orgEnglish
    5·
    17 hours ago

    For instance, PR has one “delegate” to the House (not an official voting member) and no senators. Taxation without representation.

    That’s the kinda stuff people have had to actively ignore in order to be surprised by current events. Like that’s straight up a colony. The thing the US used to be before allegedly abolishing the concept.

  • fahfahfahfahAEnglish
    50·
    18 hours ago

    He keeps saying he wants to make Canada a state but we all know he means “territory” or at least that’s what the ultimate outcome would be. The people around him are not dumb enough to create a new massive state with like 50 EC votes that would 100% vote Democrat.