Puerto Rico status referendum - June 11

[Green Line]

Well, guess they'll be voting again next year.  What a waste of money.  Puerto Rico needs to get their own house in order.  Bernie Sanders democrats would be crazy to support brining in a new poor stats when we cant even take care of Mississippi.

[7,052,770]

Mississippi is very poor and in many ways in nearly the same condition. I'd rather cut them loose.

Well, guess they'll be voting again next year.  What a waste of money.  Puerto Rico needs to get their own house in order.  Bernie Sanders democrats would be crazy to support brining in a new poor stats when we cant even take care of Mississippi.

Reported for hate speech.

[Figueira]

What would be the path to house/senate majorities for a Puerto Rico statehood bill?

If I had to guess in the senate:
Democrats, party line
Rubio
Collins
McCain

For the House, I think it's Democrats, party line + maaaaaybe 3 South Florida Republicans (IRL, Curbelo, Diaz-Balerat)

Don Young, interestingly, has already endorsed statehood.

[BuckeyeNut]

What would be the path to house/senate majorities for a Puerto Rico statehood bill?

If I had to guess in the senate:
Democrats, party line
Rubio
Collins
McCain

For the House, I think it's Democrats, party line + maaaaaybe 3 South Florida Republicans (IRL, Curbelo, Diaz-Balerat)

Don Young, interestingly, has already endorsed statehood.

Not that interesting. He remembers Alaska not being a state.

[SoLongAtlas]

"Last week, Governor Rosselló signed a law intended to force Congress to act. He will appoint five representatives and two senators who will essentially show up in Washington and request to take their seats. Known as the Tennessee Plan, it worked there in 1796."

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/11/us/puerto-ricans-vote-on-the-question-of-statehood.html

[GlobeSoc]

If Puerto Rico statehood passes the house, here's my guess of who gets it over the top, in no particular order and more or less shooting in the dark:
Dems
Young
ILR
Curbelo
Diaz-Belart
McSally
Hurd
Pearce
Dent
Comstock
Katko
McArthur
Lance
Wagner
Yoder
Coffman
Issa
Roksam
Poliquin
Brooks
Messer
Upton
Trott
King
Stefanik

A lot of these are very implausible though.

[GlobeSoc]

Also, when is the Tennessee Plan going to be executed?

[Xing]

Well, this is obviously DOA in Congress, which is sad, since Puerto Ricans are Americans, and yet many members of Congress can easily just ignore that because... reasons.

[Figueira]

Well, this is obviously DOA in Congress, which is sad, since Puerto Ricans are Americans, and yet many members of Congress can easily just ignore that because... reasons.

The goal should be to make this as big a political issue as possible. If it's really DOA (which I'm not entirely convinced it is) we need to make it clear how racist the Republicans are being.

[Green Line]

Well, this is obviously DOA in Congress, which is sad, since Puerto Ricans are Americans, and yet many members of Congress can easily just ignore that because... reasons.

The goal should be to make this as big a political issue as possible. If it's really DOA (which I'm not entirely convinced it is) we need to make it clear how racist the Republicans are being.

As well as the disgustingly racist 77% of Puerto Rican voters who did not vote for statehood.  They must be exposed.

[Figueira]

Well, this is obviously DOA in Congress, which is sad, since Puerto Ricans are Americans, and yet many members of Congress can easily just ignore that because... reasons.

The goal should be to make this as big a political issue as possible. If it's really DOA (which I'm not entirely convinced it is) we need to make it clear how racist the Republicans are being.

As well as the disgustingly racist 77% of Puerto Rican voters who did not vote for statehood.  They must be exposed.

1. They didn't vote against statehood--they just didn't vote.
2. That's a different issue altogether. The people of Puerto Rico have made a decision, and Republicans should follow their party's platform and honor that decision.

[Green Line]

You really think an issue this massive should be decided based off a non-binding referendum that 22% of the voters participated in and even less voted yes for?

I know Democrats are desperate for ways to make poor whites irrelevant, but this is just sad.

[Holmes]

You really think an issue this massive should be decided based off a non-binding referendum that 22% of the voters participated in and even less voted yes for?

I know Democrats are desperate for ways to make poor whites irrelevant, but this is just sad.

So you think it's an issue of poor whites vs. poor browns? Sad.

[AndyHogan14]

You really think an issue this massive should be decided based off a non-binding referendum that 22% of the voters participated in and even less voted yes for?

I know Democrats are desperate for ways to make poor whites irrelevant, but this is just sad.

Well, 78% of the population do not care enough either way to vote. Of the people that actually care, 97% want statehood, therefore, statehood should be granted ASAP.

When Jerry Brown was reelected in 2014, there was only 30% turnout...does that make his second term invalid?

[Green Line]

You really think an issue this massive should be decided based off a non-binding referendum that 22% of the voters participated in and even less voted yes for?

I know Democrats are desperate for ways to make poor whites irrelevant, but this is just sad.

Well, 78% of the population do not care enough either way to vote. Of the people that actually care, 97% want statehood, therefore, statehood should be granted ASAP.

When Jerry Brown was reelected in 2014, there was only 30% turnout...does that make his second term invalid?

If Jerry Brown was going to become the 51st state, yeah I would say it's invalid.

[AndyHogan14]

You really think an issue this massive should be decided based off a non-binding referendum that 22% of the voters participated in and even less voted yes for?

I know Democrats are desperate for ways to make poor whites irrelevant, but this is just sad.

Well, 78% of the population do not care enough either way to vote. Of the people that actually care, 97% want statehood, therefore, statehood should be granted ASAP.

When Jerry Brown was reelected in 2014, there was only 30% turnout...does that make his second term invalid?

If Jerry Brown was going to become the 51st state, yeah I would say it's invalid.

Then we will have yet another referendum and the opposition parties will boycott it and then we will do it again, and again, and again and nothing will be resolved. If turnout is such an issue (and it is not in pretty much every other election in the US), then there needs to be a binding referendum passed by Congress that makes it clear that the US government WILL follow the outcome of the referendum regardless of turnout—then and only then, might there not be a ridiculous boycott.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

You really think an issue this massive should be decided based off a non-binding referendum that 22% of the voters participated in and even less voted yes for?

I know Democrats are desperate for ways to make poor whites irrelevant, but this is just sad.

Why is turnout an issue for this, but never anything else in this country?

[Heisenberg]

You really think an issue this massive should be decided based off a non-binding referendum that 22% of the voters participated in and even less voted yes for?

I know Democrats are desperate for ways to make poor whites irrelevant, but this is just sad.

Why is turnout an issue for this, but never anything else in this country?

Anti-statehooders claim that the referendum was meant to be non-binding, and argue that for a referendum (as opposed to an election for an office) should have high turnout due to the fact that it is not something that can be "undone" in a future election.

[Virginiá]

I know Democrats are desperate for ways to make poor whites irrelevant, but this is just sad.

Not everything is about partisan politics. Some people in this country may just happen to believe that all Americans should get fair representation, and not be written off just because they live in a federal district or a territory that America refuses to give a crap about. Since people in America can't ever seem to agree on anything anymore, a constitutional amendment appears out of the question, and that leaves statehood as the only real option. Further, in PR's case, statehood would offer them more options to deal with their debt - debt that the federal govt helped cause, btw.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

You really think an issue this massive should be decided based off a non-binding referendum that 22% of the voters participated in and even less voted yes for?

I know Democrats are desperate for ways to make poor whites irrelevant, but this is just sad.

Why is turnout an issue for this, but never anything else in this country?

Anti-statehooders claim that the referendum was meant to be non-binding, and argue that for a referendum (as opposed to an election for an office) should have high turnout due to the fact that it is not something that can be "undone" in a future election.

Well, they should have voted then.

[MasterJedi]

When Hawaii became a state the population was 600,000 with 155,000 eligible voters and about 144,000 voted. Highest turnout ever at the time but really, nobody voted. Guess according to Green Line we should remove them as a state since most people didn't vote!

[zorkpolitics]

Everyone is ignoring the obvious flaw in the referendum, it failed to offer a logical choice: give Puero Rico back to Spain, let them deal with the bankruptcy of their former colony. 
That way we won't have to be politically incorrect and require Puerto Rico to teach English.

[Zioneer]

Everyone is ignoring the obvious flaw in the referendum, it failed to offer a logical choice: give Puero Rico back to Spain, let them deal with the bankruptcy of their former colony. 
That way we won't have to be politically incorrect and require Puerto Rico to teach English.

I assume you're joking, but I don't think Puerto Rico, Spain, or even the American people as a whole want that.

[Santander]

Everyone is ignoring the obvious flaw in the referendum, it failed to offer a logical choice: give Puero Rico back to Spain, let them deal with the bankruptcy of their former colony.  
That way we won't have to be politically incorrect and require Puerto Rico to teach English.

I like you.

[Devout Centrist]

Everyone is ignoring the obvious flaw in the referendum, it failed to offer a logical choice: give Puero Rico back to Spain, let them deal with the bankruptcy of their former colony. 
That way we won't have to be politically incorrect and require Puerto Rico to teach English.

Please, for your sake, stay as far away from politics as possible