03-13-2021, 10:05 PM
(03-13-2021, 06:46 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Which is wrong. That should not be the reason we are contemplating statehood for these territories. Ending imperialistic policies? YES! Giving full rights, immunities, and privileges to all US citizens? YES! Insuring every citizen is represented fully in Congress? YES! Trying gain a political advantage? NO!
That is the problem that has caused SSF to view things the way he does. The entire population of Puerto Rico, DC, and every other territory could vote Republican and my position would still be the same: they should all get the referendum option of statehood. But the motives have been shown to be corrupt for a lot of people pushing statehood and it has turned people off from the idea. I'm not naïve, I know that everything is politics. We just need to reevaluate our values a bit, here.
With you on the bolded, Bels.
Which is why I don't think the issue of statehood should be dismissed simply because someone--say, someone not from DC or Puerto Rico-- publicly floats the idea that it would balance power in the Senate. Some may do that, and understandably so, but we need to work from Constitutional principles here, not our construction of others' motives.
The flip side is that people should not be preventing statehood in DC or PR because they fear a shift in the balance of power between the parties. That is putting party interests above the rights and aspirations of the citizen populations in question.
Personally, I am satisfied if the Senate gets rid of the filibuster, in the name of the majority of U.S. voters. I have some (not full) confidence that might right many of the problems with minority rule over the last decade.
I am not up on Puerto Rican statehood, but I am not entirely unfamiliar with the DC issue. As I said, I lived there for three years and heard a lot about it. I did not want control of the city turned over to unknown MDers. Eleanor Norton Holmes first bill to grant DC statehood was quashed the year I moved to DC. and here we are 28 years later--she has finally got the House to vote for it. I have never sensed corruption in her motives. And in comments introducing the bill, Pelosi sounds rather like you--it's about doing the right thing for people involved.
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
