Rick Santorum makes an excellent point when telling Puerto Rico if they want statehood, speak English. While the United States is a melting pot of cultural diversity, should your primary language being English be a requirement to be a part of the country? The Constitution doesn't dictate an official language, not that Congress hasn't tried, or say that a territory is required to make English its primary language. However, some states, like Florida, have passed their own law declaring English the official language.
In November, Puerto Ricans are expected to vote on whether they want to pursue statehood or stay a self-governing US commonwealth. If they even want the option to become a state, Rick Santorum said, "Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law, and that is that English has to be the principal language. There are other states with more than one language such as Hawaii, but to be a state of the United States, English has to be the principal language."
Puerto Ricans, who are allowed to vote in partisan primaries but not presidential elections, are none too happy with Mr. Santorum's comments. They maintain that issues of language and culture should be decided on the state, not the federal level. Presently, they list both English and Spanish as their primary languages.
Rick Santorum will be visiting on Friday and staying for the weekend. Do you think he will receive a warm welcome? After his wins in Kansas, Alabama, and Mississippi this week, he does seem to be on a bit of a hot streak. Will it be enough to win the presidential race? And even if it is, can he beat Barack Obama?
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Comments: 28
The sad part is that such discrimatory comments is actually a way to get support from any voters.
The Evangelicals and Teapublicans of America are dragging our country back into the 18th century of bigotry and discrimination of our fellow man.
hint :it is the embrace of the rule of law, constitutional republican principles, respect for private property, liberty, etc. The ability to communicate together is a very practical requirement for a functional society. Remember Babel?
1. Colonies do not decide to become states. Congress decides who join the union.....
2. No sane congressman from any state in the bottom half in population will vote to have Puerto Rico join the union and have a 9 -10 member congressional delegation, including 2 senators joining 3 congressmen already serving. Just look at the numbers for more than half of the states.
3. The only puertoricans that don’t vote in the presidential elections are those living in the island.
To be cont…
1) Badly put on my part, and I should be more careful. Here's how this seems to go: Every few years the Puerto Rico electorate get a shot at voting on whether they WANT to become a state. I don't know how it would play out if the majority ever voted, "Yes," but they haven't so far, and they won't this time either. So nobody is going to pursue it.
2) I understand the politics of the numbers. Even if Puerto Rico voted for statehood and formally requested it, there's damn little chance of success.
3) If I remember correctly, Puerto Ricans carry US Citizenship (as do citizens of other American protectorates like American Samoa). Therefore, when they change residency, they can vote for president in their state of residence. That doesn't change the electoral vote status. If Puerto Ricans could vote at home, there would have to be an electoral college impact, and that won't happen unless they're a state.
Thank you for comments. Just a few corrections:
1. We don’t get a chance to vote on the “status” every few years that again is up the congress to allow for a plebiscite to take place. The last time there was any discussion was back in 90s when the late Senator Young form Alaska introduced a bill that did not even make it out of in of committee to have a plebiscite. The status question has been used in Puerto Rico since it became a “Commonwealth” in the early 50s lying to people and not teaching the process.
2. I’m sure you don’t “carry around an American citizenship” you are an American and so am I. (see Jones act 1927)
3. For those that fall for the non-issue of the Language, that’s just GOP pandering to
However despite negative coverage of Santorum's English stanch he does seem to support Statehood
The opposit is true. Because, if Santorum in reality was not opposed to statehood for the Island of Peurto Rico, he would never demand that 3.7 million, primarially Spanish speaking people, to learn the English language in order to obtain U.S. Statehood in the first place.
Apparantly, you did not hear the obvious "Dog Whistle" being blown in his statement.