It sometimes seems like Congress thinks Puerto Rico is a Never-Never Land: No matter how many times the island’s people vote to keep their identity as a separate nation affiliated with the United States, it’s never enough.
Since 1967, Puerto Ricans have voted three times against becoming a US state and in favor of maintaining their status as an independent commonwealth in association with America. The last time was 11 years ago.
But now a bill moving in Congress would have Puerto Ricans vote on the issue of statehood yet again. And this time, the process is rigged to favor statehood.
The bill could come up for a floor vote in the House any week now; it’s widely expected to pass.
On its face, HR 2499 calls for a nonbinding expression by Puerto Rican voters on the political status of their island. Yet, as Puerto Rican Sen. Jose Hernandez- Mayoral of Puerto Rico’s Popular Democratic Party says, “Behind this innocuous bill lies a fully thoughtout assault on Congress to designate the island the 51st state.”
The bill creates a two-stage plebiscite. Stage One would be a yes-or-no vote on whether to maintain the “current political status.” The clear hope is that those favoring full independence — which normally draws at most 5 percent of the vote — will combine with those favoring statehood, and outpoll those who want to remain a commonwealth.
If State One passes, we’d move to Stage Two — a second vote in which Puerto Ricans would have only two choices: statehood or full independence.
As Hernandez-Mayoral puts it, “With the commonwealth option out of the ballot, statehood is finally, albeit crookedly, assured a victory.”
This electoral sleight-of-hand could easily result in a minority of Puerto Rican voters producing a false landslide vote for statehood. Although billed as “non-binding,” the referendum would serve as a pretext for pushing through statehood against the true wishes of the Puerto Rican people.
A fast track to statehood is clearly just what the measure’s proponents have in mind. Puerto Rico’s pro-statehood delegate to Congress wrote the bill.
And his party’s 2008 platform declares that after a pro-statehood vote the party will explore all avenues, including a Tennessee strategy, to force Congress into admitting Puerto Rico as a state.
What’s a “Tennessee strategy”? After the 1795 Census found that a majority of the then-time territory’s population favored statehood, the territorial governor convened a constitutional convention wherein delegates “converted” the territory into a state — and then lobbied for admission to the Union by sending “elected” senators and representatives to stand in the hallways of Congress demanding their seats. Congress soon caved in and admitted Tennessee as a state.
Despite its unfairness, the bill enjoys wide bipartisan support. The General Accounting Office says half of Puerto Ricans would qualify for food stamps and federal assistance. So Democrats are drawn to the prospect of a constituency likely to elect more Democrats to Congress. Many Republicans are eager to sign on to the measure to show that they’re “pro-Hispanic.”
If Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico becomes a state, it would also deal a major blow to English as the common language of the United States.
Puerto Ricans have fought bravely defending freedom as members of the US armed forces, and have made great contributions to the United States while preserving their independent commonwealth status. They deserve better treatment. So do the rest of us.
Eddie Garcia is a member of the National Advisory Board of ProEnglish (proenglish.org).