Puerto Rico has rich culture, natural beauty, a vibrant arts scene, great food, and amazing people. And change takes place all the time, bringing new challenges and opportunities cities. But one thing hasn’t changed in over 100 years: Puerto Rico’s political status. Puerto Rico is still a territory of the United States.
It’s been said by the Department of Justice, the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico, multiple territorial governors and U.S. legislators, scholars, and status activists: Puerto Rico’s only viable status options are statehood and independence. Free association is just a variation of independence, as we can see from the fact that all three nations with Compacts of Free Association with the United States are in fact sovereign independent nations. “Enhanced commonwealth” is a fantasy. The only non-colonial options are statehood and independence. But these are not the only possibilities for the future. There’s one more: what happens if nothing changes?
The status quo
“Status quo” means the current situation. In the case of Puerto Rico, the status quo is the current political status: Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. Thanks to the Insular Cases, Puerto Rico can continue to be an unincorporated territory forever. that’s the meaning of the “unincorporated” part of the phrase. Territories, before the Insular Cases, were understood to be on their way to statehood. The Insular Cases introduced the idea of unincorporated territories, which weren’t exactly part of the United States. They belonged to the United States, but they aren’t protected fully by the Constitution. They might never become states. They could still become independent nations.
Some members of the “commonwealth” party use the phrase “status quo” to refer to a special, unique status halfway between statehood and independence, which can be enhanced or developed or perfected into a relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico giving the Island the power to pick and choose among federal laws, the ability to reject changes in the relationship mandated by Congress, and the ability to make treaties and agreements with other nations while maintaining U.S. citizenship and financial support. The federal government has rejected the many different variations on this that have been proposed over the past 75 years. It isn’t the status quo, simply because that’s not what Puerto Rico currently has.
What happens if nothing changes?
The Insular Cases allow Puerto Rico to stick with the status quo. In that case, Puerto Ricans will continue to be U.S. citizens, but Congress will have the power to rescind their citizenship at any time. They will not be able to vote in presidential elections and will have no voting members in the legislature, just as is true today. Without full participation in American democracy, they won’t be at the top of the legislative priority list. They won’t have the opportunity to invest in the U.S. with income tax dollars — even though most residents, like about half the people who live in states — won’t earn enough to owe taxes and instead could receive credits and refunds.
Desperate tax measures encourage U.S. companies to siphon profits and tax dollars out of Puerto Rico without investing much in the Island, while at the same time imposing taxes higher than most states on local residents.
Puerto Rico can expect, therefore, to continue to receive less federal support than states. At the same time, the instability of the current political status — which allows Puerto Rico to become a state or a foreign country or to linger in the current colonial status indefinitely — makes the Island less appealing to investment from the mainland or from other nations. The hardships created by the current status cause residents to leave, further reducing the tax base and the number of working-age people in the territory.
It’s a dismal picture, but it’s a realistic one. Puerto Rico has been in the current relationship for more than a century.Life has changed over that time, but we still don’t have equal rights with U.S. citizens living in states. The status quo doesn’t work. Puerto Rico deserves better.
Statehood guarantees equal footing with the existing states, equal rights under the Constitution, and guaranteed, secure U.S. citizenship for Puerto Rico. For the United States as a whole, it will provide an additional state that will bring benefits to the nation and an end to the disgrace of holding a colony against the will of the people in the 21st century. Tell your legislators that they must take action.
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