Courting Disaster in Puerto Rico

Sleepwalking into danger, for everyone involved.

by Rod D. Martin
February 27, 1998

President Clinton, soundly defeated this week by that most fearsome of foreign powers Kofi Annan, discovered in the aftermath that Tailgate had not gone away. Unfortunately for all of us, the Puerto Rico statehood bill remained concealed.

Wednesday, March 4th, the House of Representatives votes on an especially pernicious bill designed to make the aforementioned Caribbean commonwealth the 51st state. If passed, a Senate vote, not yet scheduled, will likely follow quickly, and the President simply can't wait to sign. Wise citizens will lobby feverishly against this most foolish of moves.

In brief, the legislation under consideration gives Puerto Rican voters the option of continuing their current status as a commonwealth (whereby they have U.S. citizenship, but no income taxes and thus no vote in national elections), seeking independence, or becoming a state. This would be the second such referendum in just five years; and the bill requires repeated refer…