The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Puerto Rico has opted to start the process to become the 51st state in the United States.  Of course, Congress has to ratify this but I think they will.

http://news.yahoo.com/puerto-ricans-opt-statehood-referendum-134423786.html

Do you seriously believe the Republican House will ratify the addition of two Senators (and however many Representatives) from Puerto Rico?

This stands about as much chance of success as if California tried to split into N.Cali and S.Cali.

Or as likely as that same Republican House abolishing Presidential term limits and telling Obama "Go ahead, dude...take as much time as you need."

You need 2/3 to amend the consitution only a majority to admit new states.

^^^ ...and I contend that no chance is still equal to no chance. ;)

The GOP has a majority in the house.  Q.E.D.

Really?  With Puerto Rico becoming a state, its residents then have to pay federal income taxes.  I'm sure any additional tax revenue will be welcome in Washington, regardless of the majority party.

How much federal tax income is worth giving up two votes in the Senate?

Are two votes in the Senate really that big of a deal? 

Um, yes.  A huge, huge deal.

If they go Democrat or Independent, then they the GOP would not be able to fillibuster anymore. That would be a huge, huge, huge development and shift of power.

It's unfortunate but I do agree. This is one of those cases where politics will trump what is the right thing to do.

No way the Republicans let this happen.

I'm curious,not about will or wont it happen...but how do we feel about it...Yahoo's front page has a poll about this...

I'll add a poll...Simple yes or No...

I'm not sure what the Democrat,Republican power shift would be with this...but as an suggestion I think you could give Washington D.C. state hood power along with Puerto Rico..and go 52..

Good idea to add a poll, Lil B.  I'm all for it.  I wouldn't mind seeing an additional star on the flag.  But instead of making D.C. a state, why not split California into two?

All three of those suggestions (PR, DC, split CA) would result in more Democratic Senators.

You might be able to pull off something like add PR+DC and split Texas into 3 states, but good luck getting Texas to do anything.

Would Puerto Rico really add more Democratic senators?  From my experience (limited as it is) with the Hispanic population, the majority of them tend to side with the Republicans.

No...not at all.  Hispanics overall break incredibly to the Democrats.  Only Cubans break Republican.  But especially Mexicans and Puerto Ricans break Democrat.

That explains it then.  Most of my Hispanic friends are of Cuban heritage.

Obama won Latinos 71-27.

I thought you needed a minimum of 60% majority to block the filibuster. 

They would be very close. Only need a couple GOP defectors to hit 60. The GOP does not want the Dems anywhere closer to 60.

Why on earth would you want to split California into 2 states?

And, why does Washington DC get electoral college votes and Puerto Rico does not?

I'm not saying to split Cali but it does make sense.  California is the largest state by population and almost twice as large as Florida which is 4th on the list. They have 53 seats in the House which is more than twice Florida's 25.

In many youth sports leagues in California, Texas, NY and Pennsylvania are split in two. There is a push to do the same for Florida as it is over 10 hours from Pensacola to Miami and over 13 hours From Pensacola to Key West.  That's a lot of ground to cover.

Politics aside ... I've thought more about the PR thing and actually I don't think it is a bad idea that we don't take them in. I mean the poverty rate of PR is over 40% and they come with debt. The unemployment rate is very high as well as welfare programs. I don't think we are in a stable enough economy to be responsible for that kind of debt right now. It just doesn't make sense to become repsonsible for people in worse shape than us when we aren't taking care of our own.