Puerto Rico status referendum - June 11

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You could hypothetically create a small, but just viable state by unifying NMI with Guam (as was initially intended - they were only partitioned because of colonial hijinks) which would have a fair amount of potential for the GOP. (Although roping in American Samoa would be a bad idea - they aren't even in the same island group). Either that or try and petition Alberta to join the union.

Obviously I think statehood would be great for PR. If you're a developing country and a developed country is offering you representation in the parliament with all the goodies that come with being in a rich country, well screw sentimental nationalism. See: the fate of Comoros.

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Just make Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia states already. They're pretty much states by now except not-in-name. I don't care about the politics behind it and whether that means gains for Democrats, I just think they both deserve representation by this point in the House and Senate.

What they should do is have DC become a state, PR with the Virgin Islands become a state, and the Northern Marianas, Guam and American Samoa combine to form one state.

I agree 100% with this, the only issue is that population of Pacifica (my persona preference for a name) would probably be too small for a state with just American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Now you would probably get a big enough population if you included Associated states, the countries that are technically independent but relay in the United States for a log (defense, funding, currency, government services, etc). If you add these locations (Federated States of Micronesia, Marshal Islands, and Palau) you get a population of 469,305.

Three things
- given that a lot of Pacific Islanders work on the mainland or Hawaii, its population is obviously a bit deflated at present. But there would be room for population growth, especially with the rush of investment that statehood would bring

- again roping in Samoa would be a bit absurd, given geographic realities. Indeed, you could make a decent state from the geographic area out of the Marianas, the Carolinas and the Marshall Islands, which contain all the countries you mention, and nearly make up the entirety of the Micronesia region. It would be a very decentralised state, but it could work
. Samoa? Probably wouldn't work.

- given that everybody expected NMi and Guam to unpartion themselves after ww2, but they still haven't done so means that a huge shake up in the Pacific is unlikely. (Unless a future American president really wants to make a statement about their Pacific policy.

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I've gotta say, the impotent PPD's reaction to this referendum is pretty funny. I can sympathise with wanting to be independent on a Marshall islands like deal, I can sympathise with wanting to be a state; but the PPD's obsession with maintaining the colonial status of PR is nothing more than darkly hilarious.

Not that Rossello and Gonzalez are any better, obviously.

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holy christ that's awful. It says something when Cuba and Haiti aren't automatically the least democratic countries in the Caribbean

Puerto Rico's current governor (elected Nov 2016) is of the conservative, GOP-affiliated pro-statehood party. Who says PC can't elect a Republican statewide? Perhaps they'll never vote for the GOP candidate at the top of the ticket for President, but a governor or senator or house member isn't unheard of (think Curbelo, Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart in FL, and Hogan and Baker as governors of very blue states.

He's a Democrat.

PNP doesn't = GOP. The parties in Puerto Rico don't align with those in the US because the political dialogue is entirely different policy-wise due to the island's political status.

I assume the dominant party system would be along the lines of Hawaiian Democrats (but even more conservative).

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status quo forever!