Fun fact: Puerto Rico's nonvoting representative in the House of Representatives is the only Member of Congress that serves a 4 year term. House members serve 2 years, Senators serve 6 years, but the resident commissioner of PR is unique.
@@robertrichard6107 The nonvoting representatives for DC, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa all serve 2 year terms. Another fun fact: the rep from American Samoa is the only Member of Congress that can be a non-US citizen. People born in American Samoa are US nationals, not citizens.
If Soccer was played with a can instead of a ball, the US would be overwhelming favorites to win the world cup. No one kicks cans down the road like we do.
As a Puerto Rican living on the Island as I write this, I'm surprised it finally got it's own episode. The topic of status in PR is still very complicated. Yes, the independence support has decreased, but that factor was also cause by decades and decades of propaganda that linked it with it getting conquered by Cuba or the USSR (Cold War Red Scare at it's finest). And in the last plebiscites on what status the citizens would favor, statehood seemed to receive overwhelming support, but the ammount of people that participated was very little. This topic is far more complicated than a 3+ minute video, but still good video. I hope more PR related videos come out in the future.
Many Puerto Ricans tie independence to communism and it doesn't make scene like how come Mexico, Chile and other Latino nations aren't communist and they are independent states. If Puerto Rico were to become independent we can do it without becoming a communist dictatorship.
It honestly baffles me how you people would want to become a state honestly. If you guys were some hodge podge of people cubbled together like the Americans or the Canadians I could get that but from what I understand Puerto Rico`s people are it`s own ethnic thing with it`s own culture, language etc. If it was me I would not want to be simply drowned out in my country by a bunch of foreigners that would erase my national identity.
Puerto Rico is barely handling its own affairs as a territory how long do you think it would last as an independent nation? Honestly it's a kind of damned if you do damned if you don't situation if it ever got statehood it would probably be one of the poorest states in the Union
It's interesting to see the different trajectories of the two tropical islands of the US (OK there's Guam and America Samoa, but for the sake of argument): Hawai'i is growing steadily and Puerto Rico is losing quite a substantial portion of its population to the mainland. There may be more Hawaiians today less keen on statehood than there are in PR, but I'd guess that DC may beat PR to the statehood podium.
Another big reason why people preferred association over statehood is that, while it is illegal for states to leave the union, it is perfectly legal for territories to do so (see Micronesia) so keeping Puerto Rico a territory allows the issue of potential independence to be kicked down the road while not angering the pro-independence or pro-statehood sides too much
=WHAT INDEPENDENCE WHEN MILITARY BASES OF THE US WILL NOT GO ANYWHERE??? =BECAUSE OF ANY INDEPENDENCE WILL BE ONLY ON PAPER,WITH NO *REAL* ONE,PR MUST'VE GET THE OPPORTUNITY AND BECOME A STATE,SO PEOPLE LIVING IN PR WILL GET REAL RIGHTS TOWARDS MILITARY......AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT
They are an unincorporated territory. Whether they overwhelmingly vote for independence or statehood doesn’t matter. Only the US Congress can grant that.
I’m a Puerto Rican born and raised on the island. From what I’ve experienced, it is the older generations that prefer statehood, while the idea of independence is more popular among the younger folk. Obviously, this is a generalization. Many Puerto Ricans, including myself, serve in the military, and are employed by American organizations on the island, so to sever ties with the United States would definitely affect a large percentage of the population. Anyways, thanks for the video man! It’s not often that Puerto Rico receives much attention from channels like yours.
Giving up USA citizenship for independence and your own passport is very unwise. You already enjoy not needing to pay federal income taxes Edit: I am not from USA. So I didn’t know you do pay other forms of federal taxes and might be receiving a short end of the stick. What I am trying to convey is, going out on your own as an independent country in the Caribbean isn’t easy. You will still be wanting to have close ties with USA anyway for future economic , diplomatic and trading purposes anyway. Might be better to get more Autonomy or the status quo since you need close ties with USA for the future anyway
I think independence is one of those "be careful what you wish for" things for Puerto Rico. Statehood has too many downsides and not enough upsides whereas I don' t think Puerto Rico has the capability to govern itself and would most likely be annexed by another nation. As silly as it sounds the "Red Scare" of nearby Cuba may not turn out to be such a fever dream
In 8th grade, I asked my social studies teacher why Puerto Rico wasn’t a state, and he said just because that would make it 51 states, and “the 50 states” just sounded better. I wholeheartedly believed him and have never questioned it until today lmao
The few Puerto Ricans I have talked to were impartial/fine with the status-quo, but from what I understand, the ones who _do_ want statehood or independence feel strongly about it.
Yup. And they *TEND* to blame non-PR's about it, even though it's up to the citizens of PR to vote and apply (note: You have to have a legal vote, 2012's vote was... absurd).
@@yondie491facts. I looked up the most recent referendum held on PR statehood and it was just less than 53% in favor of statehood (and the first pro statehood referendum I could find with more than a 50% registered turnout). And yet on a Spanish video about this very topic, the comments section was filled with Boricuas complaining about American colonialism 🤦🏻♂️ I love the place and the people, but some people really are unbelievable.
I'd be shocked if they ever withdraw. I still remember a while back when History Matters posted a video but forgot to add the patreon section. Despite this, the video ended with, "With a special thanks to: James Bissonette--" as if HM assumed they'd just always be there, and wouldn't need to check before recording the next section.
I never see his name listed so I wondered on the spelling. Is it like the Bissonnet here in Houston or your way of spelling it? 😂. Thanks for clearing that up.
I served in the US Army with a whole bunch of Puerto Ricans and one them told me once that if you want to start a fight, find three or more Puerto Ricans and say "PR should be a state". Because there are three opinions (status quo, statehood, and independence) and they feel strongly about whichever one they hold.
No one thinks Puerto Rico should be a state, It shouldn’t. And we won’t allow it either way. No American is begging Puerto Rico to join, The country has nothing to show for itself and should be independent from the US as there are zero cultural ties.
@@DivinesLegacy I can see you are ignorant of the subject. Many Puerto Ricans on the island and on the mainland believe in PR statehood. The US has never begged a, territory t become a state, and yet they have opened the doors to them when they deemed fit. If what you said were true why did 8 territories, now states use the Tennessee Plan to become a state, the last one being Alaska. You lack the knowledge of US history and it shows
Alaska voted 80% and Hawaii voted 90%. In the last plebiscite (2020) Puerto Rico voted ..53%. That's the equivalent of saying "I guess" to a marriage proposal. You can't expect anyone to seriously pursue statehood on behalf of PR when there doesn't appear to be any great enthusiasm from Puerto Ricans themselves.
Finally someone in this comments section is actually speaking some truth. The situation is pretty complicated with Puerto Rico right now, which is not what this TH-camr is trying to sell to his audience.
And it's the first of a half-dozen votes that had *that much* of a pro-state or pro-independence result. Puerto Rico is the reason Puerto Rico isn't a state yet.
@@purplespeckledappleeater8738 To be clear, this youtuber didn't go into the current political drama at all and only explained the background for why it is the way it is now, not why people want to change that. Those are two distinct video topics.
This. Statehood or not Puerto Rican is still American and almost everyone sees themselves that way there's really no serious issue of Puerto Rico seceding. I even go out on a limb to say that we Puerto Rican sees ourselves as American more than other Hispanic people who sometimes only see America as a place to make money and not their true "homeland"
A former governor who was pro-statehood once went to Washington DC to ask for "statehood" for Puerto Rico. A congressman asked him "How many votes in a referendum in favor of statehood do you think are good enough for Puerto Rico to become a state?". His answer was "Uh...About 60%." The congressman replied back: "So, you're ok with your wife being faithful to you just 60% of the time?".
As a Puerto Rican, another factor I keep seeing is that people here are just very comfortable with the "unincorporated territory" title. The pro-independence crowd can have their "we're our own country" line, while we're all still US citizens with the benefits of travelling to and from the US without any issue.
That's what I've heard whenever I've talked with anyone about the issue. The status quo is known. Becoming independent, while intriguing, is unknown. And they already get most of the benefits. Puerto Ricans are citizens, and can go where they like. Probably the ones who want to be a state just move to a state.
.......SADLY,GETTING OUT OF THE US IS A MYTH,IT'LL NEVER BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN...GOT IT?? .....SO EVERYONE IN PR MUST'VE STOP DREAMING AND GET STATEHOOD ASAP....BECAUSE OF *_THAT_*
Ideas for more videos: 1. Why does France own French Guiana? 2. Why does Liechtenstein exist? 3. Why did Russia give Crimea to Ukraine? 4. Why did Poland and Lithuania break up? 5. Why is Latin a dead language? 6. Why did Yugoslavia collapse? 7. Why did Brittany take so long to join France? 8. Why do so many countries end in -stan? 9. Why did Europe colonize the Americas before Africa? 10. Why isn’t Sri Lanka a part of India? 11. Why did the Byzantine Empire survive for so long? 12. Why didn’t Poland or Czechoslovakia regain all of their lost territory after WWII? 13. How did the Mongol Empire get so big? 14. Why isn’t Brunei a part of Malaysia? 15. Why was Italy punished so lightly after WWII?
@@untendohd1377 yes, and also the “ia” found in many names. So “-stan” and “ia” both essentially mean “land of” Columbia - land of Columbus Kazakhstan- land of Kazakh
It was a lot harder to colonize Africa because the Africans had the same immunity to diseases as the Europeans plus they had extra diseases that the Europeans had no immunity to.
Not really if Puerto Rico had a "a strong independence movement" they would have been granted independence in 1947 like the Philippines...or Cuba in 1902. Puerto Ricans were offered US citizenship less than 1K refused and most of those were Spanish citizens
@@AnywhereMiami Considering I'm Puerto Rican, I think I know my skin color..and the skin color of Spaniards...SMH.Facts don't care about your feelings....even now the independence party is about 5% of the population. As far as the rest please write clearer as I don't know what your talking about, but its obvious you racially profiling people, as you're projecting that on to me.
@@AnywhereMiami Wow talk about projection. So you learned to despise your roots, and think others did the same. Then you accuse the author of the thread of despising Latinos, while at the same time despising him a Latino. SMH
IMHO the reason why the status quo remains is not because of fear. I call it a lack of vision. The independence movement has none. They have no plans for the future except to reestablish control over the masses and get them to work in the fields picking coffee or sugar cane, or in the service industry catering to tourists. IE the only future for Puerto Rico espoused by the Indpenedentistas is for the revitalization of menial labor As far as the rest you have allowed racism to dominate your thinking. Their is little to no racism on the island, Puerto Ricans on the island know the stories, and may have experienced it, but they don't have a point of reference. Your cries of being taught to hate themselves falls on deaf ears, because unlike you they were educated in Puerto Rico where they are actually taught to take pride in their heritage. As such they would rather reform the system than abandon it. Then people like you come in yelling at them, assuming skin color, motivations, and a lack of intelligence, it just causes them to tune out your agenda. Just my 2 cents....
As a Puerto Rican and a USAF veteran. My take in a nutshell, PR doesn't have the resources to sustain or grow its economy at a meaningful rate, more economic diversity is needed, the island dependents heavily in the tourism and US funds, and the few expats that spend money at the local shops when we visit...
Puerto Rico has “people power” and if it could lean into the USA to get native born college educated elite in place to help steer that island a lot could be done for itself. Example: Taiwan is a small island, but it focused on silicon chip production it has gotten world attention from the entire world.
@@thetradersam6157 Fact: the population of Puerto Rica is over 3+ million citizens and that is slightly higher than the current population of the state of Iowa.
As always, I enjoyed this video. I was surprised, however, that one detail was missing. It was virtually impossible to consider making Puerto Rico a state before World War 2 because of the Philippines. The US could not possibly entertain the idea of making the Philippines a state due to its comparatively gargantuan population. Making Puerto Rico a state while keeping the Philippines as a territory would have caused even more tension between the states and the Philippines. However, once the Philippines became independent, statehood for Puerto Rico became more feasible. I know a few people from Puerto Rico. Based on that small sample size, they seem to lament the most about not being able to vote in the US presidential elections. Otherwise, they seem ambivalent regarding statehood. Again, my sample size is small. Many people from Puerto Rico may have a different perspective.
But Philippines was on the path to independence anyhow, having its own commonwealth presidents and own military etc. It was slated for 1946, even with WWII underway they still got it that year. Idk how could that change things for Puerto Rico statehood
This is false. The Philippines was always slated for independence since the 1899 Schurman Commission and the subsequent 1900 Taft Commission. Philippine statehood was always a very very VERY small minority opinion in US Congress and within the Territory/Commonwealth. From 1899-1946 the US enacted laws and decisions exclusively for Philippine independence. The idea of Philippine statehood is a wildly popular misconception and teeters on historical revisionism.
Wikipedia has quite a lengthy disambiguation page for "Treaty of Paris", including 34 different treaties named the "Treaty of Paris", four "Paris Convention"s, the Paris Peace Accords for the Vietnam War, the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. (Plus a painting, a rock band, and a racehorse named "Treaty of Paris".) I think that Paris should take a break and let some other city handle international diplomacy for a while.
@@PheOfTheFae , DC actually does have representation. By the POTUS. In 1961, they were given an electoral vote. Which means they can vote for President (a representative of the people, according to the Constitution). Puerto Rico can't vote for President.
@@Kahless_the_Unforgettable Yes DC can vote for the President. However, the President doesn't make the laws that govern DC or more importantly Puerto Rico so that doesn't really count for much. The Senate gives a massive amount of power to everyone who has a Senator. At the end of the day having the same filibuster, Yay, or Nay vote as everyone else regardless of population or tax revenue produced.
It's actually not that simple. The people (most of them) don't pay federal income tax but they pay every other type of tax. The Puerto Rican National Guard still gets called up to deploy into war zones and most importantly any federal law that's passed by Congress applies to Puerto Rico the same way would apply to a state. That is the most important part Puerto Rico has a bigger population than Hawaii, Alaska, Wyoming, and I think a few other states. That said it has zero control over what the other 50 states decide should happen to it at the Federal level. Once upon a time companies did not have to pay federal tax either and that caused a lot of well-paying companies to be based in or operate out of Puerto Rico. When Congress (again no representation) decided to end that it was a mass exodus of companies which also led to a mass exodus of employees aka local tax payers.
One detail that he left out is that there was (and still is) no concession to make to conservatives if it were made a state. The mostly conservative Alaska and the mostly liberal Hawaii were able to get statehood around the same time because neither party saw the move as "handing the other side two more senators." However, as the US is now out of territories that would lean conservative if given statehood, there's no concession to give to Republicans that would make them vote "Yes" on giving Democrats 2 more Senate seats.
I would argue that Puerto Rico isn't particularly as left leaning as other state seeking territories like DC. In fact many ideas in the island can go either way.
@@largebubbahubba always has. Why they didn’t let in a free state without letting in a slave state at the same time. In this regards though, let eastern Washington & Oregon split off and form their own state. Problem solved.
=NOT GONNA HAPPEN EVER AS US'S MILITARY BASES WONT GO ANYWHERE,AND ONLY STATEHOOD REALLY PROTECTS PEOPLE ......I'LL JUST MENTION ABOUT CUBA WAS GIVEN INDEPENDENCE ONLY TO FORCIBLY ABUSING IT'S PEOPLE BY ANY WAY OF EXPLOITATION WHICH TURNED REBELLIOUS THOUGHTS RISE THERE WHICH TURNED CUBA TO COMMUNIST REGIME
As a Puerto Rican, I believe the independence movement is not dead but it does have significantly less support. A big consensus of people agree on keeping the status quo for A) not wanting to become a state B) independence can be scary for some. I have to agree with Texxon who commented earlier that most of the support for statehood is mostly because of years propaganda and the belief that the pro-statehood political party instills on its supporters that becoming a state will magically solve all of the island's problems.
=WHAT INDEPENDENCE???THE US WONT BE LEAVING EVER,THOUGH.......SO IT'LL BE LIKE INDEPENDENCE OF JAPAN,FOR EXAMPLE......ESPECIALLY ON OKINAWA,WHERE PEOPLE ARE RIGHTLESS TOWARDS US MILITARY THAT LIVE THERE =AND IF PR WILL BE THE STATE,PR'S LOCALS WONT BE SUFFERING ANY POSSIBLE INEQUALITY WITH MILITARY
I personally do not think statehood it will be that much of a help. There are many reasons why I think it shouldn’t be admitted as a state but it is a very complex and long topic so I will only mention one that has to do with the economy. One of the many reasons why I think as such is The Jones Act. Essentially it means that PR is not allowed to own commercial ships and it’s not allowed to do any commerce UNLESS it is from American Ships, coming from American Ports. So let’s say we want something that is produced in the Dominican Republic, even though it is right next to us, it needs to be picked up in an American ship, travel all the way to Florida, and then make its way to PR. This makes imported consumer goods in the island more expensive. This takes its toll on the economy. Now remember, it is an island, so imports are always going to be needed. If PR becomes a state this will not change, because Hawaii and Alaska have the same law applied to them, it’s why things are more expensive in those two states Also, the desire for statehood is almost the same as the desire for non statehood. Statehood recently won a majority but not by that much. 52% over 48% non-statehood. It’s not like it is shared by a wide margin of puertoricans, although it is a slight majority at the moment
Most of them moved to Kissimmee, FL or NY/NJ. :) They said something like 400k people moved to the greater Orlando area after Hurricane Maria a few years back. The ones who want to be a state just move here freely so I guess it works for the island to stay as it is.
There's a saying among Puerto Ricans that goes... "my heart has place for one star, not 50". And another is.... "every Puerto Rican believes in independence after two beers".
Ah yes, the fine tradition of "kick that can down the road, we'll deal with it later." An American political tradition as old as American politics itself
@@romanboi3115 except Thomas Jefferson one of the most prominent people in the south almost supported abolition in the Declaration of Independence. Had he done that we would live in a different country
A fun special this channel could do is the history of Star Wars. Like I’m phases. The fall of the old republic. The clone wars. Idk. I bet it would be fun listening to this person just explain Star Wars with his jokes and fun animation
=AND WHAT WAS RIGHT AFTER????EXPLOITING LOCAL PEOPLE THAT WAS SO TOO MUCH SO CASTRO EMERGED ......IF CUBA WOULD'VE BE GIVEN A STATEHOOD,NO CASTRO WOULD'V2E EVER HAPPEN....UNDERSTAND????
@@admiralkaede How they repaid you after Batista and the mob or after the Bay of Pigs? And why do you think the US went into Cuba? Because of 'The Main' lol?
@@admiralkaede Look at how WE repaid CUBA. If you read the Constitution of Cuba, the US forcibly placed in writing that the US had FULL Authority to come in with its military in interest of ITS OWN Business sectors...imagine China having the Ability's to take away from the US New York city or even worst, Texas, free willing? You sew what you reap...why do you think Leftists were rising in Latin America in the 1940-1960's? It's not random
@@alkdjfhgks1919 Western Europe owes their "developed world" standard of living to the USA paying for their defense via NATO....so much of their budgets can be used for domestic programs. The same with Japan and South Korea.
@@joaquinrodriguez227 True and fair. Racism is an issue in of itself, the US doing other good stuff is not an excuse to dismiss it. That being said, race issues is hardly a US thing alone.
@@stephenjenkins7971 of course it isnt, but in this context its true that EEUU has one of the most anti-hispanic sentiment in general (obviusly it isnt that bad in comparison with, for example, how China treat muslim minorities or how EEUU discriminated black people in the 1800). Its very ironic historically speaking now that i think about
I have always thought that Puerto Rico (along with Guam) should be official states. I've visited PR three times, and have friends there who have served in the US Navy. Hopefully statehood will be granted in the near future.
@Craig Dendy Thank you! But we just need to kick out LA, San Francisco, and New York City! I just watched a video about how San Bernadino co wants to secede from the state of California and many Californians are very unhappy with the direction (down the toilet) that its going and they blame the most populous areas for its troubles. California sounds like a Red State outside the metro areas
After hurricanes Irma and Maria, it became pretty obvious that the US Gov needed to really take a look at the status of Puerto Rico...only thing is, as you stated...the resulting action is not just kicking the can but more or less punting it
If Puerto Rico wants statehood they're going to have to be louder about it. The US Gov is unwilling to force statehood or independence onto Puerto Rico because the modern Western belief is it's the choice of a territories residents.
@@kassiogomes8498If Puerto Rico becomes a state, every election would be harder for republicans to win. So congress will not be admitting Puerto Rico to the Union any time soon. Independence is completely absurd, statehood won’t be accepted, so commonwealth status will continue to stay.
As a person living in Puerto Rico I must say I doubt we will ever become a state soon or independent. Even though we had multiple elections about becoming a state and the pro statehood won the, U.S government just keep ignoring it over and over and although independence movement is starting to grow I doubt they will be doing anything soon. Another issue that we Puerto Ricans have is that everybody is leaving the island to go to the mainland because of constant hurricanes, corruption, drug dealers running everywhere and doing whatever they want ( hell there's rumors that the police sell drugs in the part where I live) so that means there are more Puerto Ricans in main land US than in the island and I see mostly older people living here than I do young people. It's a big mess here Great video BTW 👍
The government keeps ignoring your decision to want to become a state frankly because apparently Puerto Rico politically would be more consistently Republican-leaning. They and the Democrats in overall power in Puerto Rico don't want that.
So only like 1/3rd of the island votes. Most people outside of San Juan don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. The current governor of Puerto Rico wants statehood, he got 39 percent of the vote. The 2nd place candidate wants Puerto Rico to stay unincorporated, he got 34 percent. Finally, the Independence Party got 6 percent of the popular. Which is interesting because if Texas had an Independence Party, it’d get like 20 percent. People who don’t want statehood believe making Puerto Rico a state would be complicated. Their political parties are a little different from ours. Thinking they’ll embrace our two party system is a stretch. Some the federal laws are different, for example the drinking age is 18. If they had to follow our laws and pay taxes like Americans then it’d create frustration. People who do want statehood are irritated with the local government corruption. They believe the US would be more concerned with the issues of PR if it were a state. They also want a say in American Elections because the president can make crucial decisions involving Puerto Rico. More American politicians would make promises for Puerto Rico if Puerto Ricans had voting power. The independence movement barley has traction. Folks in Puerto Rico enjoy being able to travel to the US freely without a passport. In fact, there’s actually more Puerto Ricans on the mainland than the island. Taking that away would create some issues. It wouldn’t help the island very much. PR would stop receiving disaster relief from The US, less benefits in general. Independence is like a symbolic thing mostly. A fringe group of people who believe their country was taken from them and don’t like being considered a colony. It’s more of an ego thing rather than a “how are we gonna make our country better?” thing.
I don't know the actual history, but I think that unfortunately an unsuccesful attempt at independence in a country that never achieved independence wouldn't make a great story in a general history channel. Maybe in an episode dedicated to the several uprisings towards the end of the Spanish Empire?
But it's not even, because what the fuck are we even doing there? No resettlement, no resource exploitation. Seems pointless to me to have Puerto Rico as a "territory" since we can just station troops there anyway if more independence is granted. Statehood or independence. I hate cankicking.
I think the "problem" with Puerto Rico always was that it was expected to have a distinct political lean. After the "completion" of the contiguous US by adding Arizona in 1912 any additional state was seen as "nice to have, but unnecessary". And given the deep divide in the US between ... well, everything, Alaska and Hawaii were only added because Alaska was expected to lean Democratic and Hawaii was expected to lean Republican, so they wouldn't shift the balance of power. Obviously, the parties' assessment in the 1950s of future political lean was hilariously wrong, but it did create the basis for a bipartisan support of statehood.
The reason Puerto Rico was not made a state in the 50s was because it wouldn't be a disaster. Yes I have to remember what he doesn't mention here was in the 1950s there were massive revolts by the pro-independence nationalist party in effort to gain the islands independent 1959 while they were not merely the Force that they were at the start of the decade they still had a sizable influence and if they tried to make Puerto Rico a State you would have had a large angry Group of puerto ricans that would engage in armed conflict The kind of witch that would have probably been on par with the troubles of Northern Ireland
Used to live in Puerto Rico. There are 3 main political parties in PR the PNP (Partido Nuevo Progresista) prefer statehood, the PPD (Partido Popular Democrático) prefer to keep the status quo and the PIP (Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño) prefer independence. I've since moved back to the US mainland but back when I lived in PR it seemed that independence was almost impossible and overall not preferred by the populace. So, many of the PIP preferred to vote for PPD gubernatorial candidates in order to at least keep the status quo and not become a full-on state. TBH barring some unforeseen situation I don't ever imagine Puerto Ricans as a whole voting for independence. I feel that the benefits of being at least associated with the US as a territory outweigh the benefits of being their own nation.
Independence is inevitable. Their has been a mass exodus from the political establishment in the last 2 elections. 3rd parties in 2020 got a greater share of the vote then either of the 2 establishment parties
Because of the amount of people who prefer the status quo, neither the pro-statehood nor pro-independence sides seem to have a majority, yet each side acts like they speak for the entire island
Currently there is a bill in the House of Representatives (H.R. 1522) that would give Puerto Ricans a referendum that would make Puerto Rico either a country or a State
once you become a state, you can't get out anymore, there is no legal framework for a secession. Remaining a territory is good for PR, because it leaves the door open for fully independence. The people living there are already US citizens and can freely move to the mainland if they desire, for many of them there is no urgency to decide on statehood.
Unlike Alaska and Hawaii there isn't overwhelming support in Puerto Rico for statehood. It's always broken about even. There are around 6 million people of Puerto Rican descent in the 50 United States, nearly twice the number on the island. So many people who would support statehood leave and are Americans where they live.
Send them all back for a weekend to have the vote, and settle the issue, lol. For real though, that's the thing. They have citizenship, and can move freely within the US. After that, who cares? The people left on the island are split, and there's no rush.
The real reason is they just got tired of updating the flag each time and want to keep 50 stars. Something you didn't mention is the US also got Cuba in the Treaty of Paris, but because not everyone in government wanted Cuba, they let Cuba become independent under the condition that they would have the right to intervene in Cuban affairs. Years of the US controlling Cuban affairs on top of Batista's cruelty is why the Cuban people finally had enough and rose up during the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s Also, if they had independence with Free Association like Palau, Marshall Islands, and Micronesia, they'd still get benefits like defended militarily by the US and traveling to the US without a visa.
1) Thank you for spelling "Harbor" correctly at 0:55. 😉😂 2) 2:54 , "In the American political tradition, it was time for can kicking!" So true on many, many things. Great video, mate!
@wannabedal-adx458 No he doesn’t. Have another look at 0:55 - it says “Pearl Habor” on the welcome sign, which as far as I know is wrong in anybody’s language.
As a Puertorrican, I support Statehood. Our Island needs the robust and straight forward model that only American Democracy and Statehood could provide, and yes, the transition wouldn't be easy. Otherwise with Independence we wouldn't be able to close the GINI gap since European Descendant elites with French, Irish and Italian Last Name will rise to power quickly. Independent we will experience a significant drop on PPP as institutions leave, people leave and the exodus of industries Independent our GPD will receive a blow and easily reduced to Haiti's or El Salvador's level
@@ohcrap3263 the USA purchased alaska from the russian empire, two governments participating in a land exchange, where russia granted the united states full sovereignty over alaska, therefore annexing it, utter strawman argument
@@minelayer26 Annexation: A nation occupying a territory and taking direct control of it. Acquisition: Getting possession of something. (in this context, a nation taking, or being granted, a piece of land or territory) Annexation is a more direct form of acquisition. For example, when Britain first conquered India, they acquired it and placed it under the jurisdiction of the East India Company. Later, Company rule was dissolved and replaced with direct administration of the British Raj. This would have been the annexation of India. Parts of India remained semi-sovereign and not-annexed -- the Princely States and these were pseudo-independent 'kingdoms' that were under British control but not part of the Raj. When the United States purchased Louisiana from France in 1803, it was made into the Louisiana Territory. This was an acquisition of territory, and could be argued, even before statehood, to be annexation because it was an organized incorporated territory. Parts of the Louisiana Territory were partitioned and admitted as states, like Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, etc., into the Union. In the late 19th century, European powers colonized the South Pacific islands. They were acquired, but remained overseas territories that weren't directly annexed. To this day there are a number of British and French overseas territories. Britain has not annexed their overseas territories, which are not part of the United Kingdom. France has annexed their overseas territories, which are regarded as Overseas France and governed partially or fully by the French national government.
My favorite is when, in the World Baseball Classic, the United States plays against Puerto Rico. I didn't realize a country could play itself rofl The idea of them being seperate is like how the Marines and Spaceforce don't accept they are part of the Navy and Air Force departments, respectively. Great video as usual! Thanks to all the Puerto Ricans commeting!
Don’t know why the idea of a Marine is to approach from the sea. Hence Navy. Space could technically be considered in the sky that’s why it’s part of the Air Force
@@BadLuckDez You have to be realistic. PR enjoys many perks of being a territory that would vanish with independence. Tax Breaks, Economic Support, Disaster Relief, Protection, it would all vanish, and with how small PR is, it would be almost impossible to replicate. There is simply no logical reasons for independence, just empty nationalist ideals
@@cretannia9790 that is an an incredible narrative you have there. Let's not pretend it's fact though. Islands, or archipelago do just fine without US intervention. Tax breaks like the ones that Puerto Ricans don't qualify for? Economic support from a country that made it so that we have to rely on them? Disaster relief that wouldn't be needed if the US didn't screw up basic things like a working grid? Protection from who? PR is recognized internationally and has ZERO enemies. The only people we need protection from is our invaders who happen to be the US. For YOU there's no logical reason. For us who know our history and what the US does and continues to do to PR, it's pretty logical.
@@BadLuckDez If the US is struggling at supporting the island, on what planet do you think PR can do it alone? Let’s be real here, you said it yourself, PR has become reliant on us in basically every way, to abandon that would cause serious economic suffering, and for what? There’s a reason support for independence is so little in PR. It’s based purely in ideology, not logic. The will of the people means nothing, you need money, and PR doesn’t have it.
@@cretannia9790 Your ignorance and your belief in the US Savior narrative is far stronger than my will to sit here going back and forth pointing out every way you're wrong. People like you will always believe they know more about Puerto Rico, it's people, and politics than the actual residents of PR. Enjoy your delusion. Goodnight
@@jeanblue3562 it’s a actual money pit It’s like that used car you buy in High School that your going “fix up” but no matter how much you pour into it It’s still a pos Let them solve their own problems on their own dollars through tourism and ect I’m done watching their island get federal funding
Another thing to consider is why Alaska and Hawaii became states, that they were both found to be of strategic importance after World War 2. Puerto Rico hasn't been as important militarily to the USA as Alaska or Hawaii were.
But things change! China being an upstart world power and wanting to get military bases near the US mainland, like we have in Taiwan, could be a concern.
Puerto Rico has always been important to US interest in the area. Especially during the cold war. There was a big Navy base that essentially served as the main assembly and resupply point for the Atlantic Fleet. As well as the main defender for the Gulf of Mexico.
PR like Hawaii was a valuable strategic location due to its proximity to the Panama Canal. As such the island was filled with Navy bases that have closed down in later years.
@@AL-lh2ht It actually is pretty important, especially when we have enemies like countries like Venezuela and Cuba Who could easily be courted into holding weaponry for either Russia or China
@@lolbit1232 that is correct. During the Cuban Missile Crisis Ramey Base was central if bombing Cuba was necessary. Also amphibious invasion covert operations were practiced in PR for a possible Cuban invasion.
Something not mentioned in this video: As a territory, Puerto Rico is able to have its own lawns and aren't subject to federal laws, including political office distribution. If Puerto Rico were to become a US state, they'd have to get rid of a lot of their laws and make serious readjustments, one of which is getting rid of a lot of its socialist ways. The corrupt politicians definitely don't want this. They'd much rather receive funding from the US for emergency situations, spend it on their own preferences, then blame the federal government for not helping out. 🤷♂
Puerto Ricans are subject to federal laws and above them the U.S. Constitution. If the Puerto Rico legislature were to pass any law against federal law or the U.S. Constitution, it is repealed. I don't know what you mean about our socialist ways. Puerto Rico has strong property rights and the free market sets the prices of goods and services to a meaningful extent.
@@blueciffer1653 Unfortunately, I can’t help but agree with you. Most people here either love or hate it, but don’t understand the system itself. If people want to defend or criticize something, they should understand it first. At least, that’s my two cents on the matter.
I'm born and raised in PR. I have been living in the continental USA for 10 yrs. I wish for P.R to become a state. However, I don't see it happening any time soon.
I have a theory that, if after adding Hawaii and Alaska, we only had 49 states, then Puerto Rico would already be a state. I blame the split Dakota's for taking up two states.
@@ryanschweinsburg296 as a person from Massachusetts living in Rhode Island currently… I definitely feel like RI should just be a part of MA, they’re very similar culturally and have a bit of a sibling rivalry between eachother But honestly, all of New England should really just be one state
As a native Puerto Rican, I am delighted you are covering this topic. On the matter of the independence movement, however, it is worth noting that its decline was in large part due to a government-run political persecution campaign, which made it harder for known members of the independence movement to get jobs and generally make a living. It's also a bit unclear whether attitudes toward statehood are changing - the last few referendums have been pro-statehood, but have also been boycotted by the opposition, so it's hard to truly say where the population stands on this. Either way, great video, and I hope to see Puerto Rico on this channel again! :)
If we assume that Puerto Rico has become a separate country, then most likely it will turn into a backward country with a population living in appalling poverty. And now Puerto Ricans are not rich, but if they separate from the USA, it will be a nightmare
While it is true that they don't pay federal income tax, they do have to pay every single other taxes. Puerto Ricans have to pay some of the higher taxes in all of the United States.
That's not taxes to the US government though, that's taxes for your island, imposed by your corrupt Puerto Rican politicians. Don't blame us if you still have high taxes despite not paying federal. The fact that you pay high taxes, and your island is still in terrible shape, says a lot about leftist politics.
@@scottmolnar4132 Sound to me like you are digging for excuses to say "Ah, no taxes. So its okay if they don't have the same rights as everyone else and don't get to vote for president. Totally okay for them to not be a state full of brown people."
Our problem is corruption, ideally I'd like to be independent, but due to our political situation I don't think we'd see that much improvement, I'd rather just remain a territory until we get our shit sorted out, I think most or atleast half of puerto ricans agree with me.
Independence is actually much more economically feasible than You think There's a podcast on TH-cam about it it's on paseo podcast just type that with Independence it should come up
I just wanted to say that I recently came across this channel and I love it! The episodes are quick and to the point, and I love the facial expressions of all the characters! Keep up the good work 👍
While the points made in this video are good, one of the main reasons was left out. that being PR is a massive money sink as is and making it a state would only worsen that effect
It would be, by a long way, the poorest state in the union. This would mean either less federal funding for poor states like Mississippi, or higher federal taxes for rich states like Maryland.
@@inconnu4961 Nope, the tourism industry, despite how much locals say they hate it, brings in plenty of $. Plus it's not like agriculture has gone away completely, Hawaii still produces a lot of tropical fruits that are hard to grow elsewhere in the US.
Which invaders the ones he was related to? How a Spanish decedent can claim the island as his own is hilarious. Lol the US didn’t invade the US was welcomed with open arms
As a Puerto Rican I know that this whole situation is a lot more complex than a three-minute video. especially when the United States came into Puerto Rico in the first place and then murdered a whole bunch of Puerto Ricans who were protesting the island being annexed in the first place. And the group of protesters who were killed after they were just peacefully protesting the arrest of a political leader. And treating Puerto Ricans like guinea pigs with a birth control experiments and I have endless amounts of horrible stories about what that American government allowed to happen or was part of the horrors on the island. But I guess that doesn't equal 3 minute video.
As a Puerto Rican born and raised I have to say is that the video is well resumed the only thing is that right now pro state movement and the pro independence are pretty equal in supporters plus there these 2 are not the only major political movements, there pro state/ pro independence/ pro being just an US territory. And I’m finishing with this the majority of pro state supporters are older generations while younger generations tend to lean more pro independence.
Not sure what's stopping them now but as I remember my time there when I was younger I remember Puerto Ricans absolutely hating Americans but loving our money
I think people really underestimate the fact that there are already 50 states, a good satisfying number. 51 on the other hand is not a nice number. Joke all you want but I'm sure this is a reason st least subconsciously
I do think you're right. But long term I think the US will end up with 55 in total. Initially I think it will go to 52 with either Guam/Oceania, DC or Jefferson. Maybe even the American Virgin Islands. But I do think some people do operate with the 50 is a nice number and stop there.
@@DumbledoreMcCracken Except that's exactly what voting is.... people deciding. They voted on it 5 or 6 times, most recently in 2020 where 52% voted yes.
Please, make a video about why Germany wasn't devided into Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria and Wurtemberg after WWI. 🙏 This would have prevented WWII or at least delayed it.
In the era of nation states, it was unlikely that was going to be a stable arrangement, especially since every other treaty in the war such as the one that partitioned Hungary were based on ethnic lines. It would have been too harsh and could have potentially led to the same ends
Yes, destroying Germany even more would’ve prevented the war that started because the German people were angry that Germany was destroyed. It’s not like Germans have feelings or anything…
@@bruhbruh-us6gl Destroyed? xD Germany just lost some territories. After WWII Germany lost even more territories. Where do you see angry Germans preparing for WWIII to recover seized territories?
@@plrc4593 “Just lost some territories” You have no idea what you’re talking about. It wasn’t just the territories, it was mainly the war debt and insane military restrictions placed on the German state. There was even a point where French troops entered the Rhineland to seize assets because the German state couldn’t pay off all the war debt. The military restrictions, on the other hand, crippled Germany’s ability to deal with the many uprisings and revolts against the state, which led to the rise of the Freikorps, which then led to the nationalist movements that ended up taking over the country. As for the reason there’s no political will in Germany to take back the lost territories after WW2 is because all the Germans who used to live in those territories were deported to the current German borders, whereas in WW1 the German populations remained even as the borders changed.
Also, Spanish is an official language in Puerto Rico (along with English) and is spoken by a majority of the population. That is also a stick issue with many Mainland American Linguistic Nationalists.
In a lot of ways the US’s attitude towards formally giving its territories statehood is very similar to before the civil war. Back then both the south and north tried incorporating more territories into the Union. The northerners wanted Canada whilst the south wanted more of Mexico,Cuba,a lot of Central America etc . The reason why those areas weren’t incorporated? The balance of power. The north was afraid of bringing in slave states that could upset the balance and south was afraid of free states being admitted. That’s why around that time period states were usually brought in as at least pairs to maintain that balance. The push for Puerto Rican statehood isn’t quite as strong as DC’s. Which just like back then nobody wants to add a new state and have to deal with one party getting an advantage. Interestingly though contrary to what most think Puerto Rico imo would lean Republican. Whilst DC would be solidly democrat. The only way we get new states is if we bring em in two at a time so each party gets one. Cooperation is the most subtle form of conflict
The biggest reason no northern territories were added was they did not want to be part of the US, also they were part of the largest global empire this the us had no ability to add them without risking destroying themselves.
@@lugosanchez3370 I mean northern territories were added. The Oregon territory was split between Britain and the US and the treaty of 1846 saw the US fully gain modern Oregon which it already claimed and modern Washington most of which was claimed and occupied by the British. Yeah earlier ventures into Canada didn’t go well but the gap of power between the British Empire and US really begins to decrease post civil war up until around WW1 when war would’ve been a costly ugly affair for both. Then purchasing Alaska post civil war but that doesn’t help my point. Meanwhile in the south you had attempts made on Cuba,Mexico,Central America etc
No it's not. State hood is dead in Puerto Rico. In the last major election in Puerto Rico 67% of puerto ricans who voted voted against the prostatehood new progressive party the only reason they even won the governor's house was because the vote was split between the popular Democratic Party the puerto rican independence party the citizens victory movement party and the far right-wing project dignity party. In fact going into this current election the 2 left-wing parties the point of region independence party and citizens victory movement party have joined forces and are behind pro-independence candidate juan dalmau For governor and he's currently in second place in the polls by under 2%
I've heard Puerto Ricans who want independence generally would like a status of Free Association with the US, similar to what was done with the Micronesian territories.
Micronesia has joined with China. So, no free association with The U.S. It’s a Chinese protectorate, and will likely become an official Chinese territory.
Fun fact: Puerto Rico's nonvoting representative in the House of Representatives is the only Member of Congress that serves a 4 year term. House members serve 2 years, Senators serve 6 years, but the resident commissioner of PR is unique.
That is a fun fact.
What about the one from the Virgin Islands?
@@robertrichard6107 chad islands*
@@robertrichard6107 2 years term for their nonvoting representative in the House of Representatives
@@robertrichard6107 The nonvoting representatives for DC, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa all serve 2 year terms. Another fun fact: the rep from American Samoa is the only Member of Congress that can be a non-US citizen. People born in American Samoa are US nationals, not citizens.
"As such, in the American political tradition, it was time for can-kicking!"
As a US citizen, I find this hilariously sad.
If Soccer was played with a can instead of a ball, the US would be overwhelming favorites to win the world cup. No one kicks cans down the road like we do.
Give it statehood or give it independence. We have only had 120 years to make up our minds.
Yes as a Puerto Rican can we just become a state already what’s the hold up.
The ERA, the closure of Guantanamo, the various state DST bills all feel seen
I feel like learning US history in school, all of our problems boil down to kicking the can and hoping someone else deals with it. 😂😂
As a Puerto Rican living on the Island as I write this, I'm surprised it finally got it's own episode. The topic of status in PR is still very complicated. Yes, the independence support has decreased, but that factor was also cause by decades and decades of propaganda that linked it with it getting conquered by Cuba or the USSR (Cold War Red Scare at it's finest). And in the last plebiscites on what status the citizens would favor, statehood seemed to receive overwhelming support, but the ammount of people that participated was very little. This topic is far more complicated than a 3+ minute video, but still good video. I hope more PR related videos come out in the future.
Many Puerto Ricans tie independence to communism and it doesn't make scene like how come Mexico, Chile and other Latino nations aren't communist and they are independent states. If Puerto Rico were to become independent we can do it without becoming a communist dictatorship.
It honestly baffles me how you people would want to become a state honestly. If you guys were some hodge podge of people cubbled together like the Americans or the Canadians I could get that but from what I understand Puerto Rico`s people are it`s own ethnic thing with it`s own culture, language etc. If it was me I would not want to be simply drowned out in my country by a bunch of foreigners that would erase my national identity.
I do food reviews while I’m high off that good tree on my yöutube chånnel 😏
Puerto Rico is barely handling its own affairs as a territory how long do you think it would last as an independent nation? Honestly it's a kind of damned if you do damned if you don't situation if it ever got statehood it would probably be one of the poorest states in the Union
@@juliomanuel1885 Cuba is not a communist dictatorship, it's actually really democratic
0:35 I love the newspapers and treaties. It always is a challenge to pause the video quickly enough so I can read the whole thing.
those are clever "Easter Eggs"
It's interesting to see the different trajectories of the two tropical islands of the US (OK there's Guam and America Samoa, but for the sake of argument): Hawai'i is growing steadily and Puerto Rico is losing quite a substantial portion of its population to the mainland. There may be more Hawaiians today less keen on statehood than there are in PR, but I'd guess that DC may beat PR to the statehood podium.
Another big reason why people preferred association over statehood is that, while it is illegal for states to leave the union, it is perfectly legal for territories to do so (see Micronesia) so keeping Puerto Rico a territory allows the issue of potential independence to be kicked down the road while not angering the pro-independence or pro-statehood sides too much
=WHAT INDEPENDENCE WHEN MILITARY BASES OF THE US WILL NOT GO ANYWHERE???
=BECAUSE OF ANY INDEPENDENCE WILL BE ONLY ON PAPER,WITH NO *REAL* ONE,PR MUST'VE GET THE OPPORTUNITY AND BECOME A STATE,SO PEOPLE LIVING IN PR WILL GET REAL RIGHTS TOWARDS MILITARY......AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT
They are an unincorporated territory. Whether they overwhelmingly vote for independence or statehood doesn’t matter. Only the US Congress can grant that.
@@robotnikkkk001 The capitilized lettering hear doesn't help and is just annoying to read with
@@robotnikkkk001 the Phillipines had US bases... from before they were ever independent. but they don't now!
So you already adopted the US political tradition of kicking cans down the road?
You seem so assimilated, you're perfect for statehood :D
I’m a Puerto Rican born and raised on the island. From what I’ve experienced, it is the older generations that prefer statehood, while the idea of independence is more popular among the younger folk. Obviously, this is a generalization. Many Puerto Ricans, including myself, serve in the military, and are employed by American organizations on the island, so to sever ties with the United States would definitely affect a large percentage of the population. Anyways, thanks for the video man! It’s not often that Puerto Rico receives much attention from channels like yours.
Giving up USA citizenship for independence and your own passport is very unwise. You already enjoy not needing to pay federal income taxes
Edit: I am not from USA. So I didn’t know you do pay other forms of federal taxes and might be receiving a short end of the stick. What I am trying to convey is, going out on your own as an independent country in the Caribbean isn’t easy. You will still be wanting to have close ties with USA anyway for future economic , diplomatic and trading purposes anyway. Might be better to get more Autonomy or the status quo since you need close ties with USA for the future anyway
I think independence is one of those "be careful what you wish for" things for Puerto Rico. Statehood has too many downsides and not enough upsides whereas I don' t think Puerto Rico has the capability to govern itself and would most likely be annexed by another nation. As silly as it sounds the "Red Scare" of nearby Cuba may not turn out to be such a fever dream
Yet every time PR is asked to vote on Statehood over the last decade it’s an affirmative yes.
So no, it’s not a magical ‘youth thing’.
@@jasonglebe3235 There is like a 0% chance of annexation, much higher chance of mismanagement and gang violence.
@@hkchan1339 Active duty service members from Puerto Rico pay federal taxes.
In 8th grade, I asked my social studies teacher why Puerto Rico wasn’t a state, and he said just because that would make it 51 states, and “the 50 states” just sounded better. I wholeheartedly believed him and have never questioned it until today lmao
Texas can split up into 5 states. That would mean 4 new states. So with PR, it would be 55 states.
Yes I heard that they too growing up
@@reynaldoflores4522 that does not sound as good as 50 stars. Also 50 stars makes a good shape on the flag.
It would be perfect if along with puerto rico dc would be a state too
🗿
The few Puerto Ricans I have talked to were impartial/fine with the status-quo, but from what I understand, the ones who _do_ want statehood or independence feel strongly about it.
Yup. And they *TEND* to blame non-PR's about it, even though it's up to the citizens of PR to vote and apply (note: You have to have a legal vote, 2012's vote was... absurd).
@@yondie491facts. I looked up the most recent referendum held on PR statehood and it was just less than 53% in favor of statehood (and the first pro statehood referendum I could find with more than a 50% registered turnout). And yet on a Spanish video about this very topic, the comments section was filled with Boricuas complaining about American colonialism 🤦🏻♂️ I love the place and the people, but some people really are unbelievable.
@@matthewheald8964 yeah, so many people are weirdly allergic to facts
@@yondie491 No it is not.
@@matthewheald8964 The part that it was a scam by the pro-statehood party?
I watch for two reasons:
-To see if James Bissonnette is still a patreon
-To learn the information given out in this video
I'd be shocked if they ever withdraw. I still remember a while back when History Matters posted a video but forgot to add the patreon section. Despite this, the video ended with, "With a special thanks to: James Bissonette--" as if HM assumed they'd just always be there, and wouldn't need to check before recording the next section.
I watch for both :)
I never see his name listed so I wondered on the spelling. Is it like the Bissonnet here in Houston or your way of spelling it? 😂. Thanks for clearing that up.
I like boogely woogely
For me it's all about spinning-three-plates.
I served in the US Army with a whole bunch of Puerto Ricans and one them told me once that if you want to start a fight, find three or more Puerto Ricans and say "PR should be a state".
Because there are three opinions (status quo, statehood, and independence) and they feel strongly about whichever one they hold.
Forget 3, my Puerto Rican father in law can get in an argument with himself over the issue.
No one thinks Puerto Rico should be a state, It shouldn’t. And we won’t allow it either way. No American is begging Puerto Rico to join, The country has nothing to show for itself and should be independent from the US as there are zero cultural ties.
@@DivinesLegacy you won moronic comment of the day
@@DivinesLegacy I can see you are ignorant of the subject. Many Puerto Ricans on the island and on the mainland believe in PR statehood. The US has never begged a, territory t become a state, and yet they have opened the doors to them when they deemed fit. If what you said were true why did 8 territories, now states use the Tennessee Plan to become a state, the last one being Alaska.
You lack the knowledge of US history and it shows
@@DivinesLegacy There is the case to allow Puerto Rico to remain a territory so no one else shows up with guns and says "we're Puerto Rico now"
Alaska voted 80% and Hawaii voted 90%. In the last plebiscite (2020) Puerto Rico voted ..53%. That's the equivalent of saying "I guess" to a marriage proposal. You can't expect anyone to seriously pursue statehood on behalf of PR when there doesn't appear to be any great enthusiasm from Puerto Ricans themselves.
Finally someone in this comments section is actually speaking some truth. The situation is pretty complicated with Puerto Rico right now, which is not what this TH-camr is trying to sell to his audience.
And it's the first of a half-dozen votes that had *that much* of a pro-state or pro-independence result.
Puerto Rico is the reason Puerto Rico isn't a state yet.
@@purplespeckledappleeater8738 To be clear, this youtuber didn't go into the current political drama at all and only explained the background for why it is the way it is now, not why people want to change that. Those are two distinct video topics.
This. Statehood or not Puerto Rican is still American and almost everyone sees themselves that way there's really no serious issue of Puerto Rico seceding. I even go out on a limb to say that we Puerto Rican sees ourselves as American more than other Hispanic people who sometimes only see America as a place to make money and not their true "homeland"
A former governor who was pro-statehood once went to Washington DC to ask for "statehood" for Puerto Rico. A congressman asked him "How many votes in a referendum in favor of statehood do you think are good enough for Puerto Rico to become a state?". His answer was "Uh...About 60%." The congressman replied back: "So, you're ok with your wife being faithful to you just 60% of the time?".
Mad props to the creator who didn't stretch this out in ten minutes or have sponsors in the middle. Subbed
As a Puerto Rican, another factor I keep seeing is that people here are just very comfortable with the "unincorporated territory" title. The pro-independence crowd can have their "we're our own country" line, while we're all still US citizens with the benefits of travelling to and from the US without any issue.
That's what I've heard whenever I've talked with anyone about the issue. The status quo is known. Becoming independent, while intriguing, is unknown. And they already get most of the benefits. Puerto Ricans are citizens, and can go where they like.
Probably the ones who want to be a state just move to a state.
Puerto Ricans are American to me
.......SADLY,GETTING OUT OF THE US IS A MYTH,IT'LL NEVER BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN...GOT IT??
.....SO EVERYONE IN PR MUST'VE STOP DREAMING AND GET STATEHOOD ASAP....BECAUSE OF *_THAT_*
@@greenkoopa We *are* Americans. The state we live in just isn't considered an American state.
@@robotnikkkk001 ...wot?
Ideas for more videos:
1. Why does France own French Guiana?
2. Why does Liechtenstein exist?
3. Why did Russia give Crimea to Ukraine?
4. Why did Poland and Lithuania break up?
5. Why is Latin a dead language?
6. Why did Yugoslavia collapse?
7. Why did Brittany take so long to join France?
8. Why do so many countries end in -stan?
9. Why did Europe colonize the Americas before Africa?
10. Why isn’t Sri Lanka a part of India?
11. Why did the Byzantine Empire survive for so long?
12. Why didn’t Poland or Czechoslovakia regain all of their lost territory after WWII?
13. How did the Mongol Empire get so big?
14. Why isn’t Brunei a part of Malaysia?
15. Why was Italy punished so lightly after WWII?
Isn‘t the -stan in country names like the -land in european nations e.g. Finnland, England, Switzerland?
@@untendohd1377 yeah it just means land of such as Kazakhstan being land of Kazakhs
@@untendohd1377 yes, and also the “ia” found in many names. So “-stan” and “ia” both essentially mean “land of”
Columbia - land of Columbus
Kazakhstan- land of Kazakh
It was a lot harder to colonize Africa because the Africans had the same immunity to diseases as the Europeans plus they had extra diseases that the Europeans had no immunity to.
16. Why Bangladesh did not joined India after they broke away from pakistan
As a Puerto Rican, this is one of the most nuanced and accurate telling of the complex relationship between us and the USA. Great work as always!
Not really if Puerto Rico had a "a strong independence movement" they would have been granted independence in 1947 like the Philippines...or Cuba in 1902. Puerto Ricans were offered US citizenship less than 1K refused and most of those were Spanish citizens
@@AnywhereMiami Considering I'm Puerto Rican, I think I know my skin color..and the skin color of Spaniards...SMH.Facts don't care about your feelings....even now the independence party is about 5% of the population. As far as the rest please write clearer as I don't know what your talking about, but its obvious you racially profiling people, as you're projecting that on to me.
@@AnywhereMiami Wow talk about projection. So you learned to despise your roots, and think others did the same. Then you accuse the author of the thread of despising Latinos, while at the same time despising him a Latino. SMH
IMHO the reason why the status quo remains is not because of fear. I call it a lack of vision. The independence movement has none. They have no plans for the future except to reestablish control over the masses and get them to work in the fields picking coffee or sugar cane, or in the service industry catering to tourists. IE the only future for Puerto Rico espoused by the Indpenedentistas is for the revitalization of menial labor
As far as the rest you have allowed racism to dominate your thinking. Their is little to no racism on the island, Puerto Ricans on the island know the stories, and may have experienced it, but they don't have a point of reference. Your cries of being taught to hate themselves falls on deaf ears, because unlike you they were educated in Puerto Rico where they are actually taught to take pride in their heritage. As such they would rather reform the system than abandon it.
Then people like you come in yelling at them, assuming skin color, motivations, and a lack of intelligence, it just causes them to tune out your agenda. Just my 2 cents....
*Yeah so rather let them become a third world country we can see how it turns out with Haiti.*
As a Puerto Rican and a USAF veteran. My take in a nutshell, PR doesn't have the resources to sustain or grow its economy at a meaningful rate, more economic diversity is needed, the island dependents heavily in the tourism and US funds, and the few expats that spend money at the local shops when we visit...
Puerto Rico has “people power” and if it could lean into the USA to get native born college educated elite in place to help steer that island a lot could be done for itself.
Example: Taiwan is a small island, but it focused on silicon chip production it has gotten world attention from the entire world.
You hear a lot of those pro-Independence ones, in NYC!
Tourism is only 2% of Puerto Rico’s GDP
@@thetradersam6157
Fact: the population of Puerto Rica is over 3+ million citizens and that is slightly higher than the current population of the state of Iowa.
Good example. That is true!!!
As always, I enjoyed this video. I was surprised, however, that one detail was missing. It was virtually impossible to consider making Puerto Rico a state before World War 2 because of the Philippines. The US could not possibly entertain the idea of making the Philippines a state due to its comparatively gargantuan population. Making Puerto Rico a state while keeping the Philippines as a territory would have caused even more tension between the states and the Philippines. However, once the Philippines became independent, statehood for Puerto Rico became more feasible.
I know a few people from Puerto Rico. Based on that small sample size, they seem to lament the most about not being able to vote in the US presidential elections. Otherwise, they seem ambivalent regarding statehood. Again, my sample size is small. Many people from Puerto Rico may have a different perspective.
But Philippines was on the path to independence anyhow, having its own commonwealth presidents and own military etc. It was slated for 1946, even with WWII underway they still got it that year. Idk how could that change things for Puerto Rico statehood
U.S. is guilty of many war crimes in Phillipines, maybe they could cover that next. U.S. did a lot of baby seal clubing in Spanish American War.
This is false. The Philippines was always slated for independence since the 1899 Schurman Commission and the subsequent 1900 Taft Commission. Philippine statehood was always a very very VERY small minority opinion in US Congress and within the Territory/Commonwealth. From 1899-1946 the US enacted laws and decisions exclusively for Philippine independence.
The idea of Philippine statehood is a wildly popular misconception and teeters on historical revisionism.
@@rolandolayvar4328 correct!
Very interesting
"the Treaty of Paris to make it easy to differentiate from other treaties" ROFL I love this so much!
Wikipedia has quite a lengthy disambiguation page for "Treaty of Paris", including 34 different treaties named the "Treaty of Paris", four "Paris Convention"s, the Paris Peace Accords for the Vietnam War, the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. (Plus a painting, a rock band, and a racehorse named "Treaty of Paris".)
I think that Paris should take a break and let some other city handle international diplomacy for a while.
Who the fuck still says rofl
@@danielbishop1863
Yeah but the cuisine would be worse anywhere else (except possibly Milan).
I love that the newspaper at 2:20 have actual articles from the same time period. Amazing attention to detail!
In general, I love HM's habit of putting jokes into newspapers that are only shown on screen for a second or two. Gotta pause it.
@@danielbishop1863 Same, did you catch how he literally named it "Rich Port News", Rich Port being Puerto Rico in English?
Thank you for this episode, and good job getting the basic gist out there.
The "u" crossed out in Harbor at 0:55 is the kind of details I keep coming back for
Also the "No sneak attacks".
Not paying federal taxes while enjoying almost every right that a state has seems like a great reason to avoid statehood.
I actually didn't know that part, considering DC folks pay taxes!
@@PheOfTheFae , DC actually does have representation. By the POTUS. In 1961, they were given an electoral vote. Which means they can vote for President (a representative of the people, according to the Constitution).
Puerto Rico can't vote for President.
Funny enough in some Middle East countries the citizens don’t have pay any sort of income taxes at all.
@@Kahless_the_Unforgettable Yes DC can vote for the President. However, the President doesn't make the laws that govern DC or more importantly Puerto Rico so that doesn't really count for much.
The Senate gives a massive amount of power to everyone who has a Senator. At the end of the day having the same filibuster, Yay, or Nay vote as everyone else regardless of population or tax revenue produced.
It's actually not that simple. The people (most of them) don't pay federal income tax but they pay every other type of tax.
The Puerto Rican National Guard still gets called up to deploy into war zones and most importantly any federal law that's passed by Congress applies to Puerto Rico the same way would apply to a state.
That is the most important part Puerto Rico has a bigger population than Hawaii, Alaska, Wyoming, and I think a few other states. That said it has zero control over what the other 50 states decide should happen to it at the Federal level.
Once upon a time companies did not have to pay federal tax either and that caused a lot of well-paying companies to be based in or operate out of Puerto Rico. When Congress (again no representation) decided to end that it was a mass exodus of companies which also led to a mass exodus of employees aka local tax payers.
One detail that he left out is that there was (and still is) no concession to make to conservatives if it were made a state.
The mostly conservative Alaska and the mostly liberal Hawaii were able to get statehood around the same time because neither party saw the move as "handing the other side two more senators." However, as the US is now out of territories that would lean conservative if given statehood, there's no concession to give to Republicans that would make them vote "Yes" on giving Democrats 2 more Senate seats.
so what you're saying is that the will of the people is being ignored in favor of partisanship?
@@largebubbahubba it's just parliamentary politics yo!
I would argue that Puerto Rico isn't particularly as left leaning as other state seeking territories like DC. In fact many ideas in the island can go either way.
@@largebubbahubba always has. Why they didn’t let in a free state without letting in a slave state at the same time.
In this regards though, let eastern Washington & Oregon split off and form their own state. Problem solved.
Puerto Rico is actually quite purple.
I like the reproachful portrait of Queen Liliuokalani at 0:51 and later.
In fact, there is a movement in Puerto Rico to reunify with Spain.
Absolutely based
Yes. But it have even less support the the independence movement (which have 2-5% of the votes)
There is but its very small. They don't even have a political party for that status option.
=NOT GONNA HAPPEN EVER AS US'S MILITARY BASES WONT GO ANYWHERE,AND ONLY STATEHOOD REALLY PROTECTS PEOPLE
......I'LL JUST MENTION ABOUT CUBA WAS GIVEN INDEPENDENCE ONLY TO FORCIBLY ABUSING IT'S PEOPLE BY ANY WAY OF EXPLOITATION WHICH TURNED REBELLIOUS THOUGHTS RISE THERE WHICH TURNED CUBA TO COMMUNIST REGIME
Spain is not aware of this. That may be an issue.
As a Puerto Rican, I believe the independence movement is not dead but it does have significantly less support. A big consensus of people agree on keeping the status quo for A) not wanting to become a state B) independence can be scary for some. I have to agree with Texxon who commented earlier that most of the support for statehood is mostly because of years propaganda and the belief that the pro-statehood political party instills on its supporters that becoming a state will magically solve all of the island's problems.
Wouldn't statehood be a huge help though?
Again, PR has voted to be a state numerous times over the last decade. The status quo is statehood, not commonwealth.
@@PaxAmericana76 Status quo means "as is", so commonwealth is currently the status quo.
=WHAT INDEPENDENCE???THE US WONT BE LEAVING EVER,THOUGH.......SO IT'LL BE LIKE INDEPENDENCE OF JAPAN,FOR EXAMPLE......ESPECIALLY ON OKINAWA,WHERE PEOPLE ARE RIGHTLESS TOWARDS US MILITARY THAT LIVE THERE
=AND IF PR WILL BE THE STATE,PR'S LOCALS WONT BE SUFFERING ANY POSSIBLE INEQUALITY WITH MILITARY
I personally do not think statehood it will be that much of a help. There are many reasons why I think it shouldn’t be admitted as a state but it is a very complex and long topic so I will only mention one that has to do with the economy. One of the many reasons why I think as such is The Jones Act. Essentially it means that PR is not allowed to own commercial ships and it’s not allowed to do any commerce UNLESS it is from American Ships, coming from American Ports. So let’s say we want something that is produced in the Dominican Republic, even though it is right next to us, it needs to be picked up in an American ship, travel all the way to Florida, and then make its way to PR. This makes imported consumer goods in the island more expensive. This takes its toll on the economy. Now remember, it is an island, so imports are always going to be needed. If PR becomes a state this will not change, because Hawaii and Alaska have the same law applied to them, it’s why things are more expensive in those two states
Also, the desire for statehood is almost the same as the desire for non statehood. Statehood recently won a majority but not by that much. 52% over 48% non-statehood. It’s not like it is shared by a wide margin of puertoricans, although it is a slight majority at the moment
I really appreciate the effort to pronounce Puerto Rico accurately, good speed!
Most of them moved to Kissimmee, FL or NY/NJ. :) They said something like 400k people moved to the greater Orlando area after Hurricane Maria a few years back. The ones who want to be a state just move here freely so I guess it works for the island to stay as it is.
0:23 “You look like a mix of epiclloyd with a Pringle’s packet!” Winston Churchill
I was fighting the Axis of darkness while you were at home opening National park (yes) - also Churchill
Imagine being able to be conscripted but unable to vote...
Loved your Boris Yeltsin video. Very helpful!
Well do you know how most British lower class people got voting rights in the 1910s?
Yep. WW2, Korean War, Iraq War…
Grandfather saved himself from the Koreans by calling himself sick
О, недавно видел ваше видел про нашего алкоголика.
I've had family members that went to serve Korea and suffered from physical problems as a result... and we still can't vote
They didn't press "Grant statehood to Puerto Rico" in the decision tab.
Weird because it costs only 25pp!
i wanna use the pp to get lobbying for focuses
Meh just too ooof far
Nice hoi4 reference😎😎
@@mrgeetar5421 tbh playing modded usa is better
There's a saying among Puerto Ricans that goes... "my heart has place for one star, not 50". And another is.... "every Puerto Rican believes in independence after two beers".
Ah yes, the fine tradition of "kick that can down the road, we'll deal with it later." An American political tradition as old as American politics itself
Nothing more permanent than a temporary solution!
"All men are created equal"
But we have slavery in the South
Kick that can down the road, we'll deal with it later
Well, that's was a BIG deal
Not just American political tradition. the entire world.
@@xraymind kicking the can out of necessity, America dividing over slavery right after independence would've simply caused the britts to come back
@@romanboi3115 except Thomas Jefferson one of the most prominent people in the south almost supported abolition in the Declaration of Independence. Had he done that we would live in a different country
Make an episode on James Bissonette! Lets support this idea guys!!!!
I'm more of a Kelly money maker guy myself.
1:32 I love the look of shock-horror.
Dude, you are fantastic. So spot on
Bruh that newspaper at 2:20, I'm dead
A fun special this channel could do is the history of Star Wars. Like I’m phases. The fall of the old republic. The clone wars. Idk. I bet it would be fun listening to this person just explain Star Wars with his jokes and fun animation
The US also received Cuba from Spain during this war, but Cuba was given independence in 1902
0:35 read the document
Yea and look how cuba repaid us
=AND WHAT WAS RIGHT AFTER????EXPLOITING LOCAL PEOPLE THAT WAS SO TOO MUCH SO CASTRO EMERGED
......IF CUBA WOULD'VE BE GIVEN A STATEHOOD,NO CASTRO WOULD'V2E EVER HAPPEN....UNDERSTAND????
@@admiralkaede How they repaid you after Batista and the mob or after the Bay of Pigs?
And why do you think the US went into Cuba? Because of 'The Main' lol?
@@admiralkaede Look at how WE repaid CUBA. If you read the Constitution of Cuba, the US forcibly placed in writing that the US had FULL Authority to come in with its military in interest of ITS OWN Business sectors...imagine China having the Ability's to take away from the US New York city or even worst, Texas, free willing? You sew what you reap...why do you think Leftists were rising in Latin America in the 1940-1960's? It's not random
Very interesting video as always
The people in the US "...saw them differently." That's a nice way of saying it.
@@alkdjfhgks1919 Western Europe owes their "developed world" standard of living to the USA paying for their defense via NATO....so much of their budgets can be used for domestic programs. The same with Japan and South Korea.
@@alkdjfhgks1919 ? yeah EEUU has done good things in history, that doesnt excuse their anti-hispanic sentiment
@@alkdjfhgks1919 they only helped East asia and europe.Middle east,África,Afganistán and iberoamerica has suffered so much by the u.s.
@@joaquinrodriguez227 True and fair. Racism is an issue in of itself, the US doing other good stuff is not an excuse to dismiss it.
That being said, race issues is hardly a US thing alone.
@@stephenjenkins7971 of course it isnt, but in this context its true that EEUU has one of the most anti-hispanic sentiment in general (obviusly it isnt that bad in comparison with, for example, how China treat muslim minorities or how EEUU discriminated black people in the 1800). Its very ironic historically speaking now that i think about
@ 2:32 I DIED LUAGHING Seeing the American Representative from 1770s approving of No taxation without Representation
I have always thought that Puerto Rico (along with Guam) should be official states. I've visited PR three times, and have friends there who have served in the US Navy. Hopefully statehood will be granted in the near future.
Maybe we should rethink statehood to allow us to kick some of the trouble states out.
@Craig Dendy Thank you! But we just need to kick out LA, San Francisco, and New York City! I just watched a video about how San Bernadino co wants to secede from the state of California and many Californians are very unhappy with the direction (down the toilet) that its going and they blame the most populous areas for its troubles. California sounds like a Red State outside the metro areas
@Craig Dendy Yes removing the states with the highest economy sounds like a great idea.
We do not want statehood all those votes are BS political ploys by the corrupt statehood party. Don't believe their lies.
Why? Puerto Rico is a much older nation that the US. Heck, we were in Florida almost 100 years before the Mayflower.
After hurricanes Irma and Maria, it became pretty obvious that the US Gov needed to really take a look at the status of Puerto Rico...only thing is, as you stated...the resulting action is not just kicking the can but more or less punting it
US govt supposed to start nuking the Hurricanes before they hit PR or something?
If Puerto Rico wants statehood they're going to have to be louder about it. The US Gov is unwilling to force statehood or independence onto Puerto Rico because the modern Western belief is it's the choice of a territories residents.
@@taranwanderer7747they voted for statehood several times. The congress just didn't accept it.
@@kassiogomes8498If Puerto Rico becomes a state, every election would be harder for republicans to win. So congress will not be admitting Puerto Rico to the Union any time soon. Independence is completely absurd, statehood won’t be accepted, so commonwealth status will continue to stay.
@@kassiogomes8498they need atleast 70% to be in favor tho. They haven't gotten close to that.
Lol…”it was time for can-kicking…”
I love the dead-pan presentations History Matters gives.
As a person living in Puerto Rico I must say I doubt we will ever become a state soon or independent. Even though we had multiple elections about becoming a state and the pro statehood won the, U.S government just keep ignoring it over and over and although independence movement is starting to grow I doubt they will be doing anything soon.
Another issue that we Puerto Ricans have is that everybody is leaving the island to go to the mainland because of constant hurricanes, corruption, drug dealers running everywhere and doing whatever they want ( hell there's rumors that the police sell drugs in the part where I live) so that means there are more Puerto Ricans in main land US than in the island and I see mostly older people living here than I do young people.
It's a big mess here
Great video BTW 👍
It's an issue that's so complicated that I don't even know what I'd argue for anymore.
Wrong you vote against state hood so can get welfare
Divide and conquered
The government keeps ignoring your decision to want to become a state frankly because apparently Puerto Rico politically would be more consistently Republican-leaning. They and the Democrats in overall power in Puerto Rico don't want that.
PR no deberia ser un pais deberia algo en el caribe abandonado
So only like 1/3rd of the island votes. Most people outside of San Juan don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. The current governor of Puerto Rico wants statehood, he got 39 percent of the vote. The 2nd place candidate wants Puerto Rico to stay unincorporated, he got 34 percent. Finally, the Independence Party got 6 percent of the popular. Which is interesting because if Texas had an Independence Party, it’d get like 20 percent.
People who don’t want statehood believe making Puerto Rico a state would be complicated. Their political parties are a little different from ours. Thinking they’ll embrace our two party system is a stretch. Some the federal laws are different, for example the drinking age is 18. If they had to follow our laws and pay taxes like Americans then it’d create frustration.
People who do want statehood are irritated with the local government corruption. They believe the US would be more concerned with the issues of PR if it were a state. They also want a say in American Elections because the president can make crucial decisions involving Puerto Rico. More American politicians would make promises for Puerto Rico if Puerto Ricans had voting power.
The independence movement barley has traction. Folks in Puerto Rico enjoy being able to travel to the US freely without a passport. In fact, there’s actually more Puerto Ricans on the mainland than the island. Taking that away would create some issues.
It wouldn’t help the island very much. PR would stop receiving disaster relief from The US, less benefits in general. Independence is like a symbolic thing mostly. A fringe group of people who believe their country was taken from them and don’t like being considered a colony. It’s more of an ego thing rather than a “how are we gonna make our country better?” thing.
Independence is not a Fringe group their govenor Candidate is currently second in polling
As a puertorican i hope you can cover el grito de lares/ scream of lares
Anything the American Government has ever done pales in comparison to what has been done to the western states.
I don't know the actual history, but I think that unfortunately an unsuccesful attempt at independence in a country that never achieved independence wouldn't make a great story in a general history channel. Maybe in an episode dedicated to the several uprisings towards the end of the Spanish Empire?
@@jaimepujol5507 ouch
Against the Spanish, we also have alot or rebels/turmoil in US history that no one talks about, part of Manifest Destiny time frame
@@Nperez1986 Hey someone else knows about the rebellions against the US.
Puerto Rico its one of the biggest example of a modern colony. At least French Guyana its part of the metropolitan France
Yeah, weird of the US is one of the few modern countries with legit colonies!
But it's not even, because what the fuck are we even doing there? No resettlement, no resource exploitation. Seems pointless to me to have Puerto Rico as a "territory" since we can just station troops there anyway if more independence is granted.
Statehood or independence. I hate cankicking.
@@ryan742 what if the people who actually live on the island actually want the status quo?
What does it mean they're a part of metropolitan France?
@@plrc4593 that they are part of France as any other region, like Corsica or Aquitaine. In fact French Guyana its part of the EU
I think the "problem" with Puerto Rico always was that it was expected to have a distinct political lean.
After the "completion" of the contiguous US by adding Arizona in 1912 any additional state was seen as "nice to have, but unnecessary". And given the deep divide in the US between ... well, everything, Alaska and Hawaii were only added because Alaska was expected to lean Democratic and Hawaii was expected to lean Republican, so they wouldn't shift the balance of power.
Obviously, the parties' assessment in the 1950s of future political lean was hilariously wrong, but it did create the basis for a bipartisan support of statehood.
I was going to say: Hawaii has never seemed republican in my 50 years! Hilariously wrong is accurate!
@@inconnu4961 The state GOP were much more competitive then.
@@inconnu4961 Hawaii was virtually a one-party state under the Republicans until 1954.
The reason Puerto Rico was not made a state in the 50s was because it wouldn't be a disaster. Yes I have to remember what he doesn't mention here was in the 1950s there were massive revolts by the pro-independence nationalist party in effort to gain the islands independent 1959 while they were not merely the Force that they were at the start of the decade they still had a sizable influence and if they tried to make Puerto Rico a State you would have had a large angry Group of puerto ricans that would engage in armed conflict The kind of witch that would have probably been on par with the troubles of Northern Ireland
Used to live in Puerto Rico. There are 3 main political parties in PR the PNP (Partido Nuevo Progresista) prefer statehood, the PPD (Partido Popular Democrático) prefer to keep the status quo and the PIP (Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño) prefer independence. I've since moved back to the US mainland but back when I lived in PR it seemed that independence was almost impossible and overall not preferred by the populace. So, many of the PIP preferred to vote for PPD gubernatorial candidates in order to at least keep the status quo and not become a full-on state. TBH barring some unforeseen situation I don't ever imagine Puerto Ricans as a whole voting for independence. I feel that the benefits of being at least associated with the US as a territory outweigh the benefits of being their own nation.
Independence is inevitable. Their has been a mass exodus from the political establishment in the last 2 elections. 3rd parties in 2020 got a greater share of the vote then either of the 2 establishment parties
Because of the amount of people who prefer the status quo, neither the pro-statehood nor pro-independence sides seem to have a majority, yet each side acts like they speak for the entire island
Currently there is a bill in the House of Representatives (H.R. 1522) that would give Puerto Ricans a referendum that would make Puerto Rico either a country or a State
It's gone nowhere for a whole year
If it becomes a state then Northern California needs to become one to balance it out
@@B727X balance what?
@@B727X We aren't in the 19th century anymore, where the US decides states based upon creating a "balance" between political ideologies.
@@gustavosauro1882 51 stars would look weird, i suggest also making quam a state for 52
once you become a state, you can't get out anymore, there is no legal framework for a secession. Remaining a territory is good for PR, because it leaves the door open for fully independence. The people living there are already US citizens and can freely move to the mainland if they desire, for many of them there is no urgency to decide on statehood.
Unlike Alaska and Hawaii there isn't overwhelming support in Puerto Rico for statehood. It's always broken about even. There are around 6 million people of Puerto Rican descent in the 50 United States, nearly twice the number on the island. So many people who would support statehood leave and are Americans where they live.
Send them all back for a weekend to have the vote, and settle the issue, lol.
For real though, that's the thing. They have citizenship, and can move freely within the US. After that, who cares?
The people left on the island are split, and there's no rush.
The real reason is they just got tired of updating the flag each time and want to keep 50 stars. Something you didn't mention is the US also got Cuba in the Treaty of Paris, but because not everyone in government wanted Cuba, they let Cuba become independent under the condition that they would have the right to intervene in Cuban affairs. Years of the US controlling Cuban affairs on top of Batista's cruelty is why the Cuban people finally had enough and rose up during the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s
Also, if they had independence with Free Association like Palau, Marshall Islands, and Micronesia, they'd still get benefits like defended militarily by the US and traveling to the US without a visa.
1) Thank you for spelling "Harbor" correctly at 0:55. 😉😂
2) 2:54 , "In the American political tradition, it was time for can kicking!" So true on many, many things.
Great video, mate!
@wannabedal-adx458 No he doesn’t. Have another look at 0:55 - it says “Pearl Habor” on the welcome sign, which as far as I know is wrong in anybody’s language.
3:29 I need to know who that spinning 3 plates guy is lmao
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Dude stop you're not even remotely helpful...
I'm puerto rican that moved to the U.S and I would love my island to become a state but sadly not everyone shares my idea
I share it!😊
As a Puertorrican, I support Statehood.
Our Island needs the robust and straight forward model that only American Democracy and Statehood could provide, and yes, the transition wouldn't be easy.
Otherwise with Independence we wouldn't be able to close the GINI gap since European Descendant elites with French, Irish and Italian Last Name will rise to power quickly.
Independent we will experience a significant drop on PPP as institutions leave, people leave and the exodus of industries
Independent our GPD will receive a blow and easily reduced to Haiti's or El Salvador's level
How old were you when you left the island?
@@DonesdeMotivacion So you think that outsiders will gain more power independent than as a state? Have you *ever* been to Louisiana? Or maybe Hawaii?
Ask James Bisonette to support PR's statehood. You will succeed. Good luck.
I love the detail you put in those newspaper articles shown in your video
Same
Alaska was not annexed, it was purchased from Russia in a deal called “Sewards Folly”
A nation can own un-annexed land. They're two separate processes.
meaning it was annexed
@@minelayer26 using your reasoning everything I purchased I really just annexed it.
@@ohcrap3263 the USA purchased alaska from the russian empire, two governments participating in a land exchange, where russia granted the united states full sovereignty over alaska, therefore annexing it, utter strawman argument
@@minelayer26 Annexation: A nation occupying a territory and taking direct control of it.
Acquisition: Getting possession of something. (in this context, a nation taking, or being granted, a piece of land or territory)
Annexation is a more direct form of acquisition.
For example, when Britain first conquered India, they acquired it and placed it under the jurisdiction of the East India Company. Later, Company rule was dissolved and replaced with direct administration of the British Raj. This would have been the annexation of India. Parts of India remained semi-sovereign and not-annexed -- the Princely States and these were pseudo-independent 'kingdoms' that were under British control but not part of the Raj.
When the United States purchased Louisiana from France in 1803, it was made into the Louisiana Territory. This was an acquisition of territory, and could be argued, even before statehood, to be annexation because it was an organized incorporated territory. Parts of the Louisiana Territory were partitioned and admitted as states, like Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, etc., into the Union.
In the late 19th century, European powers colonized the South Pacific islands. They were acquired, but remained overseas territories that weren't directly annexed. To this day there are a number of British and French overseas territories.
Britain has not annexed their overseas territories, which are not part of the United Kingdom. France has annexed their overseas territories, which are regarded as Overseas France and governed partially or fully by the French national government.
My favorite is when, in the World Baseball Classic, the United States plays against Puerto Rico. I didn't realize a country could play itself rofl
The idea of them being seperate is like how the Marines and Spaceforce don't accept they are part of the Navy and Air Force departments, respectively.
Great video as usual! Thanks to all the Puerto Ricans commeting!
Don’t know why the idea of a Marine is to approach from the sea. Hence Navy. Space could technically be considered in the sky that’s why it’s part of the Air Force
As a Puerto Rican I wished independence would be a practical thing and not just end in total disaster
Why would it be a disaster?
So proud to be Puerto Rican until it's time to believe in our people.
@@BadLuckDez You have to be realistic. PR enjoys many perks of being a territory that would vanish with independence. Tax Breaks, Economic Support, Disaster Relief, Protection, it would all vanish, and with how small PR is, it would be almost impossible to replicate. There is simply no logical reasons for independence, just empty nationalist ideals
@@cretannia9790 that is an an incredible narrative you have there. Let's not pretend it's fact though. Islands, or archipelago do just fine without US intervention.
Tax breaks like the ones that Puerto Ricans don't qualify for? Economic support from a country that made it so that we have to rely on them? Disaster relief that wouldn't be needed if the US didn't screw up basic things like a working grid? Protection from who? PR is recognized internationally and has ZERO enemies. The only people we need protection from is our invaders who happen to be the US.
For YOU there's no logical reason. For us who know our history and what the US does and continues to do to PR, it's pretty logical.
@@BadLuckDez If the US is struggling at supporting the island, on what planet do you think PR can do it alone? Let’s be real here, you said it yourself, PR has become reliant on us in basically every way, to abandon that would cause serious economic suffering, and for what? There’s a reason support for independence is so little in PR. It’s based purely in ideology, not logic. The will of the people means nothing, you need money, and PR doesn’t have it.
@@cretannia9790 Your ignorance and your belief in the US Savior narrative is far stronger than my will to sit here going back and forth pointing out every way you're wrong.
People like you will always believe they know more about Puerto Rico, it's people, and politics than the actual residents of PR.
Enjoy your delusion. Goodnight
As a US citizen I’d gladly give them independence
Stf
@@jeanblue3562 soooo you want to keep them a US territory so they can be a drain on us tax dollars after every hurricane
Gotcha
@@jeanblue3562 it’s a actual money pit
It’s like that used car you buy in High School that your going “fix up” but no matter how much you pour into it
It’s still a pos
Let them solve their own problems on their own dollars through tourism and ect
I’m done watching their island get federal funding
Another thing to consider is why Alaska and Hawaii became states, that they were both found to be of strategic importance after World War 2. Puerto Rico hasn't been as important militarily to the USA as Alaska or Hawaii were.
But things change! China being an upstart world power and wanting to get military bases near the US mainland, like we have in Taiwan, could be a concern.
Puerto Rico has always been important to US interest in the area. Especially during the cold war. There was a big Navy base that essentially served as the main assembly and resupply point for the Atlantic Fleet. As well as the main defender for the Gulf of Mexico.
Most Boricuas don’t want to become a State. We want to maintain our Culture and Identity.
When Puerto Ricans stop feeling entitled to be combative with anyone anywhere at any time?
PR like Hawaii was a valuable strategic location due to its proximity to the Panama Canal. As such the island was filled with Navy bases that have closed down in later years.
Also a trade hub
Nott even remotly as importentt as Hawaii.
@@AL-lh2ht It actually is pretty important, especially when we have enemies like countries like Venezuela and Cuba Who could easily be courted into holding weaponry for either Russia or China
Yes, Roosevelt Roads was one of the largest US naval bases. There was also Ramey Air Force Base and Naval Shooting range in Vieques.
@@lolbit1232 that is correct. During the Cuban Missile Crisis Ramey Base was central if bombing Cuba was necessary. Also amphibious invasion covert operations were practiced in PR for a possible Cuban invasion.
>be puerto rico
>be offered statehood numerous times
>consistently vote no
>”muh discrimination!!!”
They voted yes tho...
I was just wondering about this very topic, thanks for the research & sharing the info!
Something not mentioned in this video: As a territory, Puerto Rico is able to have its own lawns and aren't subject to federal laws, including political office distribution. If Puerto Rico were to become a US state, they'd have to get rid of a lot of their laws and make serious readjustments, one of which is getting rid of a lot of its socialist ways. The corrupt politicians definitely don't want this. They'd much rather receive funding from the US for emergency situations, spend it on their own preferences, then blame the federal government for not helping out. 🤷♂
Puerto Ricans are subject to federal laws and above them the U.S. Constitution. If the Puerto Rico legislature were to pass any law against federal law or the U.S. Constitution, it is repealed. I don't know what you mean about our socialist ways. Puerto Rico has strong property rights and the free market sets the prices of goods and services to a meaningful extent.
@@Foranton you expect the typical american to know what socialism means? lol
@@blueciffer1653 Unfortunately, I can’t help but agree with you. Most people here either love or hate it, but don’t understand the system itself.
If people want to defend or criticize something, they should understand it first. At least, that’s my two cents on the matter.
@@blueciffer1653 You're right. I shouldn't expect it.
I'm born and raised in PR. I have been living in the continental USA for 10 yrs.
I wish for P.R to become a state. However, I don't see it happening any time soon.
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State hood is dead man. From 2012 to 2020 it dropped in support by 18%
The right question should be, why isn't Puerto Rico free?
I have a theory that, if after adding Hawaii and Alaska, we only had 49 states, then Puerto Rico would already be a state. I blame the split Dakota's for taking up two states.
Blame New England for being tiny.
Rhode Island anyone?
@@ryanschweinsburg296 as a person from Massachusetts living in Rhode Island currently… I definitely feel like RI should just be a part of MA, they’re very similar culturally and have a bit of a sibling rivalry between eachother
But honestly, all of New England should really just be one state
@@BendyDH Always hilarious comparing the borders of Rhode Island to western states. Go west and everything is a giant rectangle 50x the size of it.
@@BendyDH you could say the same for the sparsely populated states. There’s little difference between Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.
As a native Puerto Rican, I am delighted you are covering this topic. On the matter of the independence movement, however, it is worth noting that its decline was in large part due to a government-run political persecution campaign, which made it harder for known members of the independence movement to get jobs and generally make a living. It's also a bit unclear whether attitudes toward statehood are changing - the last few referendums have been pro-statehood, but have also been boycotted by the opposition, so it's hard to truly say where the population stands on this. Either way, great video, and I hope to see Puerto Rico on this channel again! :)
If we assume that Puerto Rico has become a separate country, then most likely it will turn into a backward country with a population living in appalling poverty. And now Puerto Ricans are not rich, but if they separate from the USA, it will be a nightmare
Good Question!👍 Thank you very much for the Historical Background to answer it!
It should instead become the empire of James Bisonette
And The Grand Duchy Of Kelly MoneyMaker
And the duchy of Skychappel.
While it is true that they don't pay federal income tax, they do have to pay every single other taxes. Puerto Ricans have to pay some of the higher taxes in all of the United States.
So they still don't pay federal taxes
That's not taxes to the US government though, that's taxes for your island, imposed by your corrupt Puerto Rican politicians. Don't blame us if you still have high taxes despite not paying federal. The fact that you pay high taxes, and your island is still in terrible shape, says a lot about leftist politics.
@@scottmolnar4132 that's not really the case. In Puerto Rico of you work for the government you do pay the federal income tax.
@@gabrielmora5092 yeah, a very small percentage.
@@scottmolnar4132 Sound to me like you are digging for excuses to say "Ah, no taxes. So its okay if they don't have the same rights as everyone else and don't get to vote for president. Totally okay for them to not be a state full of brown people."
Our problem is corruption, ideally I'd like to be independent, but due to our political situation I don't think we'd see that much improvement, I'd rather just remain a territory until we get our shit sorted out, I think most or atleast half of puerto ricans agree with me.
Independence is actually much more economically feasible than You think There's a podcast on TH-cam about it it's on paseo podcast just type that with Independence it should come up
I do remember President Carter publicly "floating" the idea once. - But I never heard anything more about it after that one time.
Reagan supported statehood for Puerto Rico
I just wanted to say that I recently came across this channel and I love it! The episodes are quick and to the point, and I love the facial expressions of all the characters! Keep up the good work 👍
I hear Puerto Rico is in financial trouble. It’s sad that they don’t have Kelly Moneymaker to bail them out.
Moneymaker in name only....😭
Making fun of people that need help. Not surprise of y'all americans
Now you're just nation-bashing America. This is a common form of propaganda and cyberbullying.
While the points made in this video are good, one of the main reasons was left out. that being PR is a massive money sink as is and making it a state would only worsen that effect
It would be, by a long way, the poorest state in the union. This would mean either less federal funding for poor states like Mississippi, or higher federal taxes for rich states like Maryland.
@@Croz89 exactly, it'll be another Hawaii. A state who's only economic power comes from tourism and has no natural resources to cover the rest
@@nikoclesceri2267 Except Hawaii wasn't all that poor.
@@Croz89 But it likely is now, that the plantations are gone and they have to import so much!
@@inconnu4961 Nope, the tourism industry, despite how much locals say they hate it, brings in plenty of $. Plus it's not like agriculture has gone away completely, Hawaii still produces a lot of tropical fruits that are hard to grow elsewhere in the US.
"Los puertorriqueños seremos peones, capataces y policías para garantizar a los invasores el goce de nuestra riqueza." - Pedro Albizu Campos
Which invaders the ones he was related to? How a Spanish decedent can claim the island as his own is hilarious. Lol the US didn’t invade the US was welcomed with open arms
Most British thing ever: invade France
Most American thing ever: kick the can
Can you do a video about the war of 1812 pls coz I love ur vids
As a Puerto Rican I know that this whole situation is a lot more complex than a three-minute video. especially when the United States came into Puerto Rico in the first place and then murdered a whole bunch of Puerto Ricans who were protesting the island being annexed in the first place. And the group of protesters who were killed after they were just peacefully protesting the arrest of a political leader. And treating Puerto Ricans like guinea pigs with a birth control experiments and I have endless amounts of horrible stories about what that American government allowed to happen or was part of the horrors on the island. But I guess that doesn't equal 3 minute video.
As a Puerto Rican born and raised I have to say is that the video is well resumed the only thing is that right now pro state movement and the pro independence are pretty equal in supporters plus there these 2 are not the only major political movements, there pro state/ pro independence/ pro being just an US territory. And I’m finishing with this the majority of pro state supporters are older generations while younger generations tend to lean more pro independence.
Not sure what's stopping them now but as I remember my time there when I was younger I remember Puerto Ricans absolutely hating Americans but loving our money
Love this channel
I think people really underestimate the fact that there are already 50 states, a good satisfying number. 51 on the other hand is not a nice number.
Joke all you want but I'm sure this is a reason st least subconsciously
Not true! Obama said Canada was the 51st state! Puerto Rico would make 52! Thank you Obama for being such a goof!
I do think you're right. But long term I think the US will end up with 55 in total. Initially I think it will go to 52 with either Guam/Oceania, DC or Jefferson. Maybe even the American Virgin Islands. But I do think some people do operate with the 50 is a nice number and stop there.
I'm surprised you didn't even mention their own referrrendum where they voted "Yes," to becoming a state, but was largely ignored by congress.
People can't decide to become a state
@@DumbledoreMcCracken Except that's exactly what voting is.... people deciding.
They voted on it 5 or 6 times, most recently in 2020 where 52% voted yes.
If I recall voter participation was very low.
It was largely ignored because they are always Non-binding and have low turnout.
@@corey2232 Issue was abysmal voter participation, I heard.
P.R., the World's oldest Colony. 529 YEARS!
2024 and it’s still GO HOME YANKEE! Long live the Republic! 🇵🇷🔥
They gave ALASKA..alot more interest because of OIL...its an oil rich state...which is why the Russians want it back...
Please, make a video about why Germany wasn't devided into Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria and Wurtemberg after WWI. 🙏 This would have prevented WWII or at least delayed it.
In the era of nation states, it was unlikely that was going to be a stable arrangement, especially since every other treaty in the war such as the one that partitioned Hungary were based on ethnic lines. It would have been too harsh and could have potentially led to the same ends
with naive views like that, its a good thing you are as far from power as you can get
Yes, destroying Germany even more would’ve prevented the war that started because the German people were angry that Germany was destroyed. It’s not like Germans have feelings or anything…
@@bruhbruh-us6gl Destroyed? xD Germany just lost some territories. After WWII Germany lost even more territories. Where do you see angry Germans preparing for WWIII to recover seized territories?
@@plrc4593
“Just lost some territories”
You have no idea what you’re talking about. It wasn’t just the territories, it was mainly the war debt and insane military restrictions placed on the German state. There was even a point where French troops entered the Rhineland to seize assets because the German state couldn’t pay off all the war debt. The military restrictions, on the other hand, crippled Germany’s ability to deal with the many uprisings and revolts against the state, which led to the rise of the Freikorps, which then led to the nationalist movements that ended up taking over the country. As for the reason there’s no political will in Germany to take back the lost territories after WW2 is because all the Germans who used to live in those territories were deported to the current German borders, whereas in WW1 the German populations remained even as the borders changed.
Also, Spanish is an official language in Puerto Rico (along with English) and is spoken by a majority of the population. That is also a stick issue with many Mainland American Linguistic Nationalists.
In a lot of ways the US’s attitude towards formally giving its territories statehood is very similar to before the civil war.
Back then both the south and north tried incorporating more territories into the Union. The northerners wanted Canada whilst the south wanted more of Mexico,Cuba,a lot of Central America etc .
The reason why those areas weren’t incorporated? The balance of power. The north was afraid of bringing in slave states that could upset the balance and south was afraid of free states being admitted. That’s why around that time period states were usually brought in as at least pairs to maintain that balance.
The push for Puerto Rican statehood isn’t quite as strong as DC’s. Which just like back then nobody wants to add a new state and have to deal with one party getting an advantage.
Interestingly though contrary to what most think Puerto Rico imo would lean Republican. Whilst DC would be solidly democrat.
The only way we get new states is if we bring em in two at a time so each party gets one.
Cooperation is the most subtle form of conflict
The solution for DC is not statehood, but retrocession.
@@Rocketsong the citizens of DC and Maryland would disagree
The biggest reason no northern territories were added was they did not want to be part of the US, also they were part of the largest global empire this the us had no ability to add them without risking destroying themselves.
@@lugosanchez3370 I mean northern territories were added. The Oregon territory was split between Britain and the US and the treaty of 1846 saw the US fully gain modern Oregon which it already claimed and modern Washington most of which was claimed and occupied by the British. Yeah earlier ventures into Canada didn’t go well but the gap of power between the British Empire and US really begins to decrease post civil war up until around WW1 when war would’ve been a costly ugly affair for both. Then purchasing Alaska post civil war but that doesn’t help my point.
Meanwhile in the south you had attempts made on Cuba,Mexico,Central America etc
The north wanted to annex Canada but was afraid of bringing slavery? Those bad Canadians and their cotton plantations!
State??? It should be an independent country!!!
I think as of summer 2023 the idea of statehood for Puerto Rico is FINALLY being entertained
No it's not. State hood is dead in Puerto Rico. In the last major election in Puerto Rico 67% of puerto ricans who voted voted against the prostatehood new progressive party the only reason they even won the governor's house was because the vote was split between the popular Democratic Party the puerto rican independence party the citizens victory movement party and the far right-wing project dignity party. In fact going into this current election the 2 left-wing parties the point of region independence party and citizens victory movement party have joined forces and are behind pro-independence candidate juan dalmau For governor and he's currently in second place in the polls by under 2%
I've heard Puerto Ricans who want independence generally would like a status of Free Association with the US, similar to what was done with the Micronesian territories.
Nah
Micronesia has joined with China. So, no free association with The U.S. It’s a Chinese protectorate, and will likely become an official Chinese territory.