In 2019, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) described Puerto Rico statehood as part of a “socialist agenda,” warning that “this is full bore socialism on the march in the House, and, yeah, as long as I am majority leader in the Senate, none of that stuff is going anywhere.” Others have repeated the claim since, including Sean Hannity of Fox News describing Puerto Rico statehood as something communists would do once they take over the United States. But is there a real connection between socialism and Puerto Rico statehood?
Are Puerto Ricans Socialists?
The territory of Puerto Rico has a republican form of government, as is required of all U.S. states and territories. The economic system on the Island is capitalist. And, as a recent survey of Puerto Rican voters demonstrated, Puerto Ricans generally espouse typical American values, as well as typical conservative values.
Details from the survey show strong support for anti-socialist values such as religion, entrepreneurship, and the American Dream.
There are socialist organizations in Puerto Rico as there are in all the states, but by and large Puerto Ricans are not socialist.
Connection between socialism and Puerto Rico status
To the extent that there is a connection between socialism and Puerto Rico status, it is a connection between socialism and independence. What evidence is there for such a connection?
- The Puerto Rico Socialist Party supported independence.
- The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) joined the Socialist International organization in 1983.
- The President of the Independence Party spoke up for a Socialist Republic of Puerto Rico in the 1970s.
- Socialist countries, including Cuba, make an annual call for independence for Puerto Rico in hearings of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization.
- A recent report on Cuba from the State Department disclosed that independence activists in Puerto Rico were trained in Cuba.
- Headlines about the 2024 increase of support for independence from 5% to 12% often included “socialists and progressives” among independence supporters.
Socialism is not part of the platform of the Independence Party of Puerto Rico and separatists are not all socialists or communists. “Republic of Puerto Rico” is used far more often than “Socialist Republic of Puerto Rico” in discussions of independence for Puerto Rico. However, socialism is still much more strongly associated with independence than with statehood.
So why do we keep hearing this claim?
Some political leaders and influencers, including Mitch McConnell, began including Puerto Rico statehood with other policies under an umbrella of “the socialist agenda.” Whether any of the items on the list had anything to do with socialism is another question, but Puerto Rico statehood certainly doesn’t. Admitting a new state to the Union would improve the United States economically and strategically and support the core values of our founders. It would not move the nation’s economic system closer to socialism. Once that list showed up in a few memes, though, it was repeated extensively in social media.
In fact, a similar argument was made against admitting Hawaii as a state. A Nebraska legislator said Hawaii shouldn’t become a state until she “put down lawless communism.” Nobody is actually claiming that Puerto Rico is a communist or even a socialist territory. Puerto Rico statehood has just somehow managed to end up on the list some call the “socialist agenda.”
This kind of list includes the logical flaw of guilt by association: if you disapprove of legal abortion, this idea says, you should also disapprove of Puerto Rico statehood because they are both on this list. That is just plain silly. If you say something often enough, though, with strong enough emotion, you can deceive people.
Reach out to your legislators and make sure they aren’t being deceived. Did admitting the state of Hawaii lead to “full-bore socialism”? Admitting Puerto Rico won’t do that either.
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