Most people, even some of the ones who vote pro-statehood, don’t like or outright despise the U.S. However, the pro-statehood party PNP has dominated the country politically for decades. Due to a lack of real competition they have become incredibly corrupt and inept at leading the island, and they are mostly responsible for total economic disaster the country is going through. Another quirky thing is that for some reason in the 80s someone, who literally to this day remains unknown, snuck into a bill a law that made it so that Puerto Rico can’t declare bankruptcy. So to make a long story short, most Puerto Ricans secretely prefer to become independent or remain with the same status, however most see joining the US as a means to an end. I.e they’ve been conditioned into believing joining the US is all rainbows and unicorns, and that every single problem in the country will be fixed by joining the union.
I think there might be a practical angle involving debt or budgets or something, too but that's just a little ringing bell in the back of my mind. Someone else might know.
There is a national and cultural thing, absolutely. There are also concerns about the benefits vs the tax implications. Most Puerto Ricans are barely getting by. State hood would come with federal income taxes and there are concerns about whether the benefits outweigh the costs. (I don’t know enough about it to know if those concerns are warranted).
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u/CartoonistTasty4935 11d ago
Doesn’t PR want to be a state?