Years ago I was a chaperone for the “Presidential Classroom” for 11th and 12th graders. After taking the kids to see their particular Representative, we started to gather the kids for their next event. Coming around the corner of the Capitol we heard raised voices from the East Steps. The Representative from Puerto Rico was standing on the steps with his fist in the air, and two steps down were my two students from Puerto Rico. The girls looked tiny in contrast with him, but they weren’t backing down. I heard - at full volume - “Do you really want Puerto Rico to be a banana republic forever?!” When he saw us running up he turned and walked away. I had to look like I was chiding them for having disrespected a Congressman like that, but I wanted to cheer them on. He had voted against Statehood.
What a fantastic story, thanks for sharing. Those two students were right that permanent territorial dependency is incompatible with political dignity. I do think statehood is the obvious path for Puerto Rico. But we also weaken our own case when we demand admission while tolerating a local government that so often proves the skeptics’ point. The stronger path is to reform first and arrive at the bargaining table with actual leverage. What I mean by that is freer, better-governed island capable of saying not only that it deserves equality, but that it has already begun acting like a serious State. So statehood should be the destination, but, without serious reform, we'll continue arriving empty-handed. Thanks again for commenting.
Yeah, entrenched bureaucracy is as durable as granite. Are there any public governance groups in Puerto Rico that aren’t hopelessly politicized? Or am I asking a really naive question? I’m embarrassed to admit that I know more about Europe than Puerto Rico.
Not naive at all. It’s actually the right question. PR does have serious people and some useful civil society efforts. But our public-governance ecosystem is thin and almost everything eventually gets pulled toward status politics/party patronage, or government funding. That is part of the problem. Reform needs institutions that can survive outside the political machine: independent policy shops, watchdog groups, litigation centers, civic associations, serious journalism, and private-sector actors willing to defend rules rather than favors. There are some encouraging efforts, including the Instituto de Libertad Económica, but we need many many more.
Uh no, no statehood for a failed entity. I don't know what the solution is, but Puerto Ricans don't pull their weight in a relationship. Any relationship. Some cultures and societies are like that, a negative drain on everyone else. Declare yourself INDEPENDENT, vote Benito Bunny for your prime minister and see what happens. Most of us in the States would not support PR as a state because, as we already stated, you don't bring anything to the table. Except maybe for an excessive LIBIDO.
The “excessive libido” crack is beneath serious discussion and adds nothing.
Putting that aside, PR has real governance and fiscal problems. I wrote the essay precisely because I think we need to confront them honestly: clientelism, public-sector bloat, pension mismanagement, regulatory barriers, weak execution, and a political culture too comfortable with dependency. But those are institutional failures, not proof that Puerto Ricans are culturally defective or a “negative drain.” Outcomes follow incentives, rules, and institutions far more than ethnic destiny.
A few facts matter here. Puerto Ricans have served in every major American war since becoming U.S. citizens. Puerto Rican families on the mainland work, pay certain taxes, serve in the professions, build businesses, and contribute to American life every day. The island itself has long been part of critical U.S. pharmaceutical and manufacturing supply chains.
There are serious arguments to be made about statehood, independence, and the current territorial arrangement. And there are also legitimate taxpayer questions about federal spending, benefits, and governance. But cultural contempt is not federalism. Nor is prejudice analysis.
The path forward, in short, is institutional reform. Our problems are serious, but they aren't solved by insulting us.
Nice answer but you're forgetting that PR, for all the US support it gets and the fact that they are US citizens, are in reality closer to Haiti than the Bahamas. Figure out how to be a stand alone Caribbean country because that is where all your pride should be funneled.
Gene, thank you. Glad someone else stepped in with facts.
I’ll add a coda: I’m the first to admit PR has serious institutional problems, and I would not want statehood simply to become an automatic mechanism for adding more Dems to Congress. But that is precisely why PR should not be written off or left by default to Dems. Republicans would be making a serious mistake if they treat Puerto Rico as politically hopeless instead of competing here and giving the island room to reinvent itself. A freer, better-governed Puerto Rico would not only strengthen the case for equality, but would also create the possibility of a very different political alignment. Seems like I'm now going to have to write a new essay about all this.
I'm very educated and very well-traveled. I just think it's time to relieve Puerto Ricans, and DC folks too, of their delusion of becoming states. Maybe you guys ARE great, who knows. But you need to stand on your own two feet and BE great. Stop blaming others for your problems. It's so childish. Stop telling the US what great asset you are when that has never been the case. I'm rooting for you but I don't want you to move in.
I appreciate the more measured tone here. But Puerto Ricans are not asking to “move in.” We are already American citizens. The question is what constitutional and political arrangement best reflects that reality while also forcing PR to become more serious about governance. Nor should PR be lumped together with D.C. as some automatic partisan statehood package. D.C.’s history and constitutional position are very different, and the case against D.C. statehood is much stronger. PR should be evaluated on its own terms, not treated as a Democratic electoral device. I’m convinced PR needs to stand more firmly on its own two feet. That is exactly why I keep emphasizing institutional reform, economic freedom, less dependency, and a government that treats citizens as capable adults. You may still disagree with me, but I think you should visit the island before writing it off. The disagreement would at least be grounded in a fuller picture.
Years ago I was a chaperone for the “Presidential Classroom” for 11th and 12th graders. After taking the kids to see their particular Representative, we started to gather the kids for their next event. Coming around the corner of the Capitol we heard raised voices from the East Steps. The Representative from Puerto Rico was standing on the steps with his fist in the air, and two steps down were my two students from Puerto Rico. The girls looked tiny in contrast with him, but they weren’t backing down. I heard - at full volume - “Do you really want Puerto Rico to be a banana republic forever?!” When he saw us running up he turned and walked away. I had to look like I was chiding them for having disrespected a Congressman like that, but I wanted to cheer them on. He had voted against Statehood.
What a fantastic story, thanks for sharing. Those two students were right that permanent territorial dependency is incompatible with political dignity. I do think statehood is the obvious path for Puerto Rico. But we also weaken our own case when we demand admission while tolerating a local government that so often proves the skeptics’ point. The stronger path is to reform first and arrive at the bargaining table with actual leverage. What I mean by that is freer, better-governed island capable of saying not only that it deserves equality, but that it has already begun acting like a serious State. So statehood should be the destination, but, without serious reform, we'll continue arriving empty-handed. Thanks again for commenting.
Yeah, entrenched bureaucracy is as durable as granite. Are there any public governance groups in Puerto Rico that aren’t hopelessly politicized? Or am I asking a really naive question? I’m embarrassed to admit that I know more about Europe than Puerto Rico.
Not naive at all. It’s actually the right question. PR does have serious people and some useful civil society efforts. But our public-governance ecosystem is thin and almost everything eventually gets pulled toward status politics/party patronage, or government funding. That is part of the problem. Reform needs institutions that can survive outside the political machine: independent policy shops, watchdog groups, litigation centers, civic associations, serious journalism, and private-sector actors willing to defend rules rather than favors. There are some encouraging efforts, including the Instituto de Libertad Económica, but we need many many more.
Uh no, no statehood for a failed entity. I don't know what the solution is, but Puerto Ricans don't pull their weight in a relationship. Any relationship. Some cultures and societies are like that, a negative drain on everyone else. Declare yourself INDEPENDENT, vote Benito Bunny for your prime minister and see what happens. Most of us in the States would not support PR as a state because, as we already stated, you don't bring anything to the table. Except maybe for an excessive LIBIDO.
The “excessive libido” crack is beneath serious discussion and adds nothing.
Putting that aside, PR has real governance and fiscal problems. I wrote the essay precisely because I think we need to confront them honestly: clientelism, public-sector bloat, pension mismanagement, regulatory barriers, weak execution, and a political culture too comfortable with dependency. But those are institutional failures, not proof that Puerto Ricans are culturally defective or a “negative drain.” Outcomes follow incentives, rules, and institutions far more than ethnic destiny.
A few facts matter here. Puerto Ricans have served in every major American war since becoming U.S. citizens. Puerto Rican families on the mainland work, pay certain taxes, serve in the professions, build businesses, and contribute to American life every day. The island itself has long been part of critical U.S. pharmaceutical and manufacturing supply chains.
There are serious arguments to be made about statehood, independence, and the current territorial arrangement. And there are also legitimate taxpayer questions about federal spending, benefits, and governance. But cultural contempt is not federalism. Nor is prejudice analysis.
The path forward, in short, is institutional reform. Our problems are serious, but they aren't solved by insulting us.
Nice answer but you're forgetting that PR, for all the US support it gets and the fact that they are US citizens, are in reality closer to Haiti than the Bahamas. Figure out how to be a stand alone Caribbean country because that is where all your pride should be funneled.
PR has a higher GDP per capita than the Bahamas and a lower crime rate.
Haiti is closer to the Bahamas in economic and crime terms and it isn’t particularly close at that.
You sound rather uneducated and poorly traveled.
Gene, thank you. Glad someone else stepped in with facts.
I’ll add a coda: I’m the first to admit PR has serious institutional problems, and I would not want statehood simply to become an automatic mechanism for adding more Dems to Congress. But that is precisely why PR should not be written off or left by default to Dems. Republicans would be making a serious mistake if they treat Puerto Rico as politically hopeless instead of competing here and giving the island room to reinvent itself. A freer, better-governed Puerto Rico would not only strengthen the case for equality, but would also create the possibility of a very different political alignment. Seems like I'm now going to have to write a new essay about all this.
I'm very educated and very well-traveled. I just think it's time to relieve Puerto Ricans, and DC folks too, of their delusion of becoming states. Maybe you guys ARE great, who knows. But you need to stand on your own two feet and BE great. Stop blaming others for your problems. It's so childish. Stop telling the US what great asset you are when that has never been the case. I'm rooting for you but I don't want you to move in.
I appreciate the more measured tone here. But Puerto Ricans are not asking to “move in.” We are already American citizens. The question is what constitutional and political arrangement best reflects that reality while also forcing PR to become more serious about governance. Nor should PR be lumped together with D.C. as some automatic partisan statehood package. D.C.’s history and constitutional position are very different, and the case against D.C. statehood is much stronger. PR should be evaluated on its own terms, not treated as a Democratic electoral device. I’m convinced PR needs to stand more firmly on its own two feet. That is exactly why I keep emphasizing institutional reform, economic freedom, less dependency, and a government that treats citizens as capable adults. You may still disagree with me, but I think you should visit the island before writing it off. The disagreement would at least be grounded in a fuller picture.