Originally Posted by
iahflyr
It’s not about gerrymandering state boundaries to give your party more power. You could just as easily split LA County in 3 states that all vote blue and have a bigger population than those rural areas listed above.
It’s about giving representation to US Citizens who are not represented. Why does a US citizen who lives in DC or Puerto Rico not have representation in the senate? If another district or territory the US that was conservative desired statehood (and wasn’t already represented), I would be all for it.
But then again, that’s maybe why I left the GOP about 10 years ago. Hypocrisy is not in my vocabulary.
Some of what you wrote above is patently false.
1940 legislation gave jus soli to puerto ricans overriding and amending the Jones Act
Puerto Rico remains unicorporated. Their people enjoy the benefits of jus soli, but not the federal tax burden. Most residents of PR don't pay the personal federal income tax.
Congress, that means both the house and senate have to confer statehood.
People of PR have a choice. they can become their own nation, remain a territory, or they can become the 51st state (assuming it passes both house and senate) - I'm thinking they don't want that. they like the fact they get instant US cit from jus soli, and not have to share the preponderance of the federal tax burden like the rest of us. For example puerto ricans enjoy no capital gains and dividend taxes. The tax filing is nuanced in PR, but most puerto ricans enjoy the benefits of holding blue passport without all the federal tax burden like the rest of us do in the 50.