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Comment by shkkmo | Hacker News Reader

It's funny how the two major regions of the US that clearly deserve statehood (DC and Puerto Rico) but have been denied that right for decades, seem to be areas with lots of poor non-whites.

Racism is not the only factor in play here (political balance of power is a huge factor), but to deny that racism has played a significant role in creating this situation is ridiculous.

I place that racism squarely in the laps of both parties since they both deserve that blame.

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On what ground do you claim that DC and PR clearly deserve statehood? I think to take an incredibly complex economic, social, and political decision and assume its outcome is influenced in any significant capacity by the demographic makeup of those regions is ridiculous.

What is complex about it? That sounds like an excuse for not making an actual argument. There are lots of excuses when it comes to not granting statehood but they are invariably self-serving. They pay taxes but their votes don't count. We had a revolution once where that was a major factor. Puerto Rico is near the median in terms of state population. For over two down decades it has been clear that a majority of Puerto Ricans do not want to remain a territory.

If you can't imagine how the induction of a new state is an overtly complex task then I'm not sure how reasonable of a discussion we can have. I don't have a strong opinion one way or another primarily because my field of expertise lies outside of politics, sociology, and economics. On the surface yeah, I'm 100% for taxation with proper representation. I'm not well educated enough on the issue to know what 2nd and 3rd order effects it may have though

You might have an argument about DC, but Puerto Rico has not been "denied" the right. There have been many plebiscites on the issue and the status quo has been maintained each time.

They voted to become a state in 2020 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Puerto_Rican_status_ref...

Oh wow! I didn't notice that. These things take a while, I see some bills to act on that congrss-side have started

You mean the 5 plebiscites out of which only the first from over 60 years ago favored remaining a territory? Those plebiscites only provide wiggle room because of issues with which and how many options were presented.

The last one though, presented a straight yes or no on statehood and statehood won by a significant margin.

Officially, both political parties tend to say they support self determination for Puerto Rico, but still nothing has happened.

NM statehood was held up a long time for...well you figure it out, you seem like a bright spark.

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