- cross-posted to:
- housing_bubble_2@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- housing_bubble_2@lemmy.world
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No, this is what we do. 51=17x3. 52=26x2. 53, however is a prime number so it can’t be divided.
We make PR a state, Guam, and DC.
AND WE BECOME… One nation, indivisible.
You have . . . a point.
Squish the Dakotas together and make PR a state, we wouldn’t even need a new flag.
Wymonkota, anyone?
Yes!
As a former Dakotan of the north, screw South Dakota aka the lesser Dakota. North Dakota actually pays taxes unlike Switzerland of the us. A joke we had: how do you know you’re in South Dakota? Potholes every quarter mile instead of every mile in the road.
I like your idea. But instead of squish, I say death match and we detach the loser.
How would we detach a land locked state? I’m here for your idea, I’m just wondering about the logistics.
That’s for after, death match first.
No silly, we COMBINE some of the 18 low-population states so we can go back to 48! One nation 6x8, with a better balance in representation! Or 45 could be nice as well.
overly positive elementary school teacher voice* “okay low pop states find your buddy.” “to make it easier for some of you if your state starts with a cardinal direction congrats you’ve already got a preassigned merge buddy and new name!”… “ah no Kansas, ‘Ar’ is not a direction, you and Arkansas wont work you don’t even share a border hun” “…unless” Kansouri-Oklasas
Why combine extant states? Just pull a colonial Europe and draw a whole new map over it! Nuts to “natural boundaries” or “cultural similarities”, everyone on the east coast from DC to King’s Bay is now part of the State of Midlantic.
Gerrymander the state borders!
We need to copy Canada: just give up and assign that unpopulated blob as “Northwest Territories “. All done in one move
But even Canada gave up on that approach and is having Nunavut.
I was actually intending to phrase it like that since I thought one replaced the other but looked at a map and apparently both currently exist. Either I m looking at a bad map or haven’t paid enough attention to the news from our neighbor to the north
Heh i love making Nunavut jokes around Canadians. They split it off a while back forget the reason it’s recent ish ~25 years ago.
Just break a pool cue and force them to fight tbh
This needs to be a meme.
No factors, still divisible.
Guam + Marianas would make more sense, very low populations out ðere
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They are exempt from federal income tax.
While a good start, they do still pay other kinds of federal taxes (without representation), such as payroll taxes
And paid $4 billion in federal taxes in 2021 https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/puerto-rico-us-territory-crisis#chapter-title-0-4
Are they getting anything for the taxes?
Yeah, they got 25 billion for it.
Exactly
this is also why the license plates in DC have the slogan “taxation without representation”
God you can’t even have colonies anymore, another victim of wokeness
But that would shift the election in favour of the Democrats…
Yes - if the GOP can’t survive more proportional representation, they shouldn’t.
Potentially. Puerto Rico is also a religious state.
Religious doesn’t MEAN republican, just so happens to be one of the things that usually indicates a Republican.
I know plenty of smart religious people who are democrats. Most of the draw for the US is Christian nationalism (aka white supremacy) that I think won’t work on most in PR.
There is nothing christian about republican policies. Most Black folks are christian and vote dem in overwhelming numbers.
You say white supremacy like a bunch of latino men don’t vote republican.
Lol no. There are no absolutes when humans are involved.
Most latinos are religious, or from religious areas, and, I would wager, most are pretty conservative in a lot of ways. However they, as a majority, go for the democratic party.
If it wasn’t for gerrymandering and voter suspension they would’ve been extinct a while back. We might’ve even had something other than a 2 party system and ranked choice voting. People would be surprised by what could be if we didn’t have a greedy minority in a big ass coat pretending we want to see them make all the money while they keep squeezing us for our pennies.
But hey, I should be thankful for my 30k a yr and paying for insurance that’ll tell you to forget about surgery just slap a bandaid on it
Don’t forget the electoral college…
Broken-ass excuse for a democracy that’ll be shattered if Trump wins.
They can become a state if they want to. They have voted against it in the past.
Their most recent vote in 2020 results in favor of statehood (not by much). However, Congress has to make it happen, not Puerto Rico.
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What was the message behind abstaining?
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All those reasons sound entirely plausible, but perhaps statehood is one path toward fixing them. Clearly statehood would result in better representation. I don’t see how you get that any other way.
- If PR were a state, would the FEMA response to that hurricane a few years back, be so bad?
- Would they get more infrastructure spending to keep rebuilding their electrical grid: heck turn the island into 100% renewables, with mini-grids for resilience?
- Would there be more trade, tourism, commercial development, leading to more well paying jobs?
- would their local government get more oversight, higher standards (I’m assuming but maybe not)
What’s the objection to tourism? A bunch of people travelling there, spending tons of money, chances for Puerto Ricans to make much more money than they typically would …. How can I visit there and not be part of the problem?
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For sure it’s not up to us whether they should pursue statehood, but understanding the objection to tourism is important to being a successful tourist
- as a tourist I expect to go somewhere and spend way too much money getting at least some exposure to a different culture or spectacle. I expect to be respectful and open minded. I hope to have an authentic experience rather than an Americanized or fast food experience. I expect some locals to earn quite a bit of money off my travels, even if I can’t afford it
- as someone living in a city that does attract a lot of tourists, I see that it makes a huge contribution our local economy. Some thing’s are tourist traps but local culture thrives and those of us living here are not unduly impacted
- cruise ships seem like a nightmare in many ways. In this context perhaps it’s a sudden overwhelming flood of tourists that has most impact, plus they wouldn’t be staying so the local benefit is minimized
- I’ve encountered the occasional rude or disrespectful tourist but not very often
Actually, no, understanding objections to statehood is also important. I mean it’s their choice but the highest form of patriotism is self-criticism, learning to be better. Regardless of their choice, I want to understand how we can make the US better
Have you looked into how native Hawaiians feel about being a US state?
I’m not sure that’s a good analogy. Given the history of Hawaii with corporate control, natives being pushed off their land and now a minority on their own islands, that more like asking the Sioux how it’s going. Clearly an era we did poorly.
I really enjoyed visiting there a few years ago and definitely want to go back! I’ve since paid more attention and at least from what I’ve seen, statehood seems like the best path forward. My wife and I also visited Iceland last year, but that island is in a completely different situation in multiple ways. Their geothermal power is awesome though. PR could certainly benefit from renewables but more local control and growth. You’re asking some good questions though.
What are some of your best experiences in Iceland?
Both have been on my list for a while, but out of the blue, one of my kids asked about visiting Iceland. I have no idea where his interest is from, but I’m excited about the idea. Just need to get the kid a passport and wait for an opportune school break
Independence wasnt on the menu
came to say this. Its kinda their own fault. Which more than anything indicates how american they are.
My understanding is that many Puerto Ricans don’t even want statehood.
About 50-60% want statehood, it’s the majority opinion, but a lot of people like not having income taxes
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They just want independence iirc
That’s actually a pretty fringe belief on Puerto Rico
I honestly don’t think this would ever get support. Puerto Rico is very republican last I checked so dems aren’t exactly incentivized to vote it in. And republicans don’t want it because that would be fair treatment to a minority so
I’m more interested in PR having representation then how it affects my own opinions.
Yeah I agree, I meant more the actual lawmakers aren’t terribly incentivized
If they have enough people for four representatives, then if they stay a territory they ought to get more than the single delegate they have in the House. I don’t even care if that would add more siding with Republicans, they deserve more than they have.
Irony of the situation that the same Republican Party hates Puerto Ricans so much. I hope PR folks understand that when repubes say migrants are rapists, druggists, and murderers they also mean you - even though you’re not migrants - MAGA doesn’t give a fuck to the fact that you’re citizens.
"No no no…he’s talking about Haitians, those savages.
We Puerto Ricans are the exemption. We’re special."
first they came for the LGBTQ and we said nothing for we were not them, then they came for the couch cushions and we laughed… wait.
Cubans who came here legally are the exception.
The legal way for Cubans to come here is to come here. Literally, they can get residency as long as they show up
Which is why, like in all past state additions, you do it in a way that is balanced based on contemporary divides, like slave vs free states. Puerto Rico and DC at the same time.
I don’t think “very republican” is accurate but definitely not as left leaning as Dems like to believe. There is a deep seeded mistrust of government while at the same time high expectations of benefits from the government. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So the bottom line is that you just can’t tell which way they would go and that’s not a gamble either party wants to take.
Until the population clearly wants statehood or independence, we get the status quo
Just take statehood away from North Dakota and give it to PR so we can keep the number of stars and stripes.
Number of stripes isn’t going to change; it’ll stay at 13.
50 stars is boomer shit. Time for 51.
Change the number of stripes, too. Add blue stripes, turn the red stripes pink, and ditch the Bald Eagle for a shark.
Only then will America truly be Woke.
Add DC and make it an even 52
Combine the Dakotas. Combine Montana and Wyoming. Make Puerto Rico a state. Return the vast majority of the District of Columbia back to Virginia and Maryland, save a core that actually contains the Capitol, White House, etc (to retain the point - which was that the seat of federal government is not subject to any state).
I think you underestimate the political power Wyoming wields. For a clue, take a look at one of Wyoming’s largest industries.
A better way to say is Puerto Rico has more US citizens than 18 US States. If the goal is to piss off maga that is.
This page from 2020 says 20
https://puertoricoreport.com/population-puerto-rico-exceeds-populations-21-states/
A comment on that linked story says:
Unfortunately, this article is 3 years old and the data is inaccurate. Immigration from PR to USA has been huge in last three years; thus, you should update your data!
Yeah, But if you look even closer and do the math. They updated that article in 2020. Its four years out of date. Hence the reason why the url has 21 in it and the current version of the article has 20 states but the current number is 18 states.
I am surprised conservatives don’t want to add PR as a state, Republicans would definitely get more reps voting along religious lines in congress
It’s because racism
They’ll take the votes. They just don’t want to be seen with them.
Kamala should seize on this and say she’d push for statehood, if not for anything other than to watch Republicans say they would oppose it.
Dems don’t want it to have statehood either. It would make Puerto Rico less exploitable, and the donors don’t want that.
Surprised at 18, but guess it’s not that surprising.
It’s not hard to beat Wyoming in population especially.
why not oppose US colonialism and support Puerto Rican independence instead of statehood?
25% of their GDP is federal money given by the US government and they have $37 Billion in public debt. Independence would demolish their economy right now. They would need a long onramp (or offramp, as it were) to make that work, but if it’s what they wanted to do, I would certainly support it.
i thought this would be a reference to the Alice Cooper song. but yeah, I support statehood for Puerto Rico.
If we really cared about PR we would have pushed for this a long time ago. This is news because of a joke but we live in the united states of amnesia, by next monday this will all be forgotten.
My family and friends who are Puerto Rican talk about this nonstop. People in gov positions who are Puerto Rican also being it up.
Most of the time it’s brought up, it’s never been newsworthy.
