On November 3, 2020 Puertoricans voted 52.19% in favor of immediate statehood versus 47.81% against, as well as electing a pro-statehood governor (who was the former resident commissioner). Although this was a non-binding resolution, it is clear that the time has come for congress to take action on admitting Puerto Rico as the fifty-first state.
After Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836, it applied for immediate annexation and statehood by the United States. Back and forth congresses and presidents dawdled; first Jackson; then Van Buren.
Tyler who succeeded Harrison pushed for it strongly, but foreign relations and internal politics thwarted his efforts. When an agreement was finally worked out, the senate rejected the treaty. Texans were getting miffed - prompting Sam Houston to write (somewhat windily)
"Now my venerated friend, you will perceive that Texas is presented to the union as a bride adorned for her espousal. But if, now so confident of the union, she should be rejected, her mortification would be indescribable. She has sought the United States, and this is the third time she has consented. Were she now to be spurned it would forever terminate expectation on her part, and it would then not only be left for the United States to expect that she would seek some other friend, but all Christendom would justify her course dictated by necessity and sanctioned by wisdom."
What Mr. Houston was getting is this-- Enough already!
The story of Texas and Puerto Rico on the way to statehood are not dissimilar in many ways, and the Ferris Wheel of admission (with many of the same arguments for and against) would sound familiar to our Twenty-first century ears as we spin by the landing one more time, but end up (yet again) at the top of the ride looking down on the crowds and swinging in the breeze.
The United States is at a critical juncture in its history, and it could use the wisdom in congress of a country that was part of the Spanish Empire for nearly 400 years to lend a hand. Think that's hyperbole? Who better to inform Congress on why people stream from Central America into Mexico and then the U.S. than a country who did the same thing (legally) in the 1950s and 60s? Puerto Rico and its diaspora are deeply interwoven into the fabric of our republic; their values of patriotism, democracy and family would be a welcome addition to any congress, but especially the incumbent one, where so many matters of venality and harshness are no doubt on the agenda. Puertoricans are a kind, patient, tolerant people. Heaven knows we need some of that in Congress right now. The sooner the better.
Regardless of anything else, Puerto Rico has waited for over a century for this moment. We have a pro-statehood governor-elect who knows Washington well as the former Resident Commissioner (and who caucuses with the Democrats) and an able current pro-statehood Resident Commissioner (who caucuses with the Republicans). I would also be willing to bet that our out-going governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced, would have a more than descent chance to serve as one of our first senators, even though she lost her primary bid to Pierluisi earlier this year.
Regardless of personalities, the former (disgraced) governor, Ricardo Rosselló favored a Tennessee Plan approach to statehood (which I also favor) where Puerto Rico elects their congressional representation and sends them to Congress with credentials to be seated at once. Puerto Rico has the mandate from the people, and now it is up to our new governor to follow it through. It is also up to congress and the new (or incumbent) administration to not spurn the,"bride adorned for her espousal" as Sam Houston described.
A century is a long engagement for any bride. But certainly intolerable for one as proud and as beautiful as the lovely Boriquén.
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