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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Polls suggest Puerto Ricans will vote "Yes" on pushing for statehood.
Just a reminder that the referendum is going to be held on June 11.
edited 9th Jun '17 1:34:25 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised
From the same article:
Here's Wikipedia's entry on the 2012 referendum.
edited 9th Jun '17 1:43:45 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedA lot of people don't even realize that Puerto Rico is a part of the United States. Like the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam, it's a forgotten stepchild.
As for the voting system, unless we fundamentally restructure it (which would require a Constitutional amendment), it's set up so no more than two parties can meaningfully compete at the national level. This was actually intentional. The only way a third party can hope to step into power is if it replaces one of the existing parties.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Some people do realise it, then seem shocked when it's pointed out that the American Citizens (and Nationals) get no votes in the election because of how backwards the electoral college is.
"Yup. That tasted purple."Though I'm fairly confident Republicans will try and block Puerto Rico if the people actually vote for statehood, them doing so is just another thing that will make them look really bad that can be used against them, and possibly Trump, next year and in 2020.
And on people not knowing that Puerto Rico is part of the United States, I once had a conversation with a teacher in high school, where he didn't believe me that Puerto Ricans were American citizens. He didn't seem to be able to get over the "being a citizen, but not being able to vote for president or having voting representation in congress" thing.
Incidentally, while this teacher was very conservative from what I would gleam, I'd image that he'd support statehood for them regardless of political implications because what I said above really didn't seem to mesh with him.
The article elaborates further: "By itself, it’s neither a high crime nor a misdemeanor for a president to be dishonorable. But it’s a stain on the country, and it defines this moment. This is why Trump can’t get legislation through the Congress or get allies to cooperate, and why so many worry that he will disregard constitutional restraints. The president is not to be trusted. "
Bingo.
Platforms are just guidelines anyway, it's not like anyone is obliged to follow everything in them. That's why I partially played devil's advocate when people argued that Trump would be a terrible president just because of how horrible the GOP national platform is.
edited 9th Jun '17 9:41:26 AM by LSBK
Paul Ryan: The GOP would NOT impeach a Democrat over committing the same acts as Trump
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Part of the problem is every state appears to want to declare itself for someone first, meaning both parties have incentive to start placing primary dates at earlier and earlier times. I think there's one state that decided they'd move their primary date up after this last round.