Our 51st State!

I visited Puerto Rico three and a half years ago during a Carribean cruise.  It's a beautiful place, and the people are good.  The one thing I remember the most from that visit, other than the US government stimulus signs everywhere, was speaking with a gentleman who gave us a tour of his homeland.  He was proud of Puerto Rico, and was not afraid to show us everything about it.  We saw lavish hotels, pristine beaches, and posh shopping centers at first.  A few miles down the road, we were introduced to "his" Puerto Rico, with the rocky public beaches, plywood huts, rusted-out cars, stray animals everywhere, and dirt roads where the locals lived.  The people were happy here, and there was a strong sense of community.  This young man told us that some people in Puerto Rico want to be part of the United States, but most do not. 

Why would Puerto Ricans vote to become a State in our Union, when they receive all of the benefits already (military protection, representation, stimulus dollars), without any of the costs (no federal taxes).  He was very well-spoken about all of this, and let us know that the Puerto Rican government was complicated, but it worked for them. 

At the time of our visit, I was concerned about Puerto Rican statehood, because I had heard on the Glenn Beck program that President Obama's administration had helped to draft a resolution that would inevitably lead its people to vote for it, even though past resolutions had failed multiple times.  After the 2010 elections, I didn't hear anything more about it, so I thought maybe it just hadn't passed and was nothing to worry about.

Today, after the devastating blow to Constitutional Conservatives in America with the reelection of President Obama, I was looking through the headlines and discovered this on Yahoo!'s front page... PUERTO RICO ENDORSES STATEHOOD!  This was after reading a horrendous article detailing all of the ways our taxes will increase (also on Yahoo!'s front page). 

Why is this important?  Well, it might not be, if our Republican House of Representatives had a backbone and stood up to Obama and the liberal progressives, and if they can hold control over the next four years.  If Puerto Rico becomes a state, the liberals will undoubtedly get two more US Senators, and at least one more liberal congressman, as well as more liberal electoral votes.  If Puerto Rico really wants to become a State, and if both houses of Congress and our President vote for it, then we should gladly welcome them, even with their liberal ideaologies and votes.  But, if the Puerto Rican people have been played, and the Congress gets bullied into allowing them into the Union, this was nothing but an absolutely brilliant political strategy by the far left in America.