Granting statehood to our offshore tax havens and territories

[arcane1]

Granted, I know next to nothing about the details of these arrangements, but it seems weird to me that there are areas with their own native populations who are under control of the U.S. but cannot vote in our elections or participate in our politics.

Of course, I also don't know the difference between a state and a commonwealth despite having lived in both, so I may be missing someting :)

But doesn't it seem like these people should be considered either American citizens, or autonomous citizens of their own country? :shrug:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. They are, so what is the issue your are trying to address

[arcane1]

2. They are what?

Who is they, and what are they?

I'm not being a pain, I just want to make sure I get the pronouns properly attributed :)

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. Guam, American Samoa, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico

They are American citizens and can freely move to and from the rest of the US.

Commonwealths have some tax advantages vice states. Puerto Rico particularly benefits from it.

[arcane1]

6. True, but they are not states

They don't have senators or reps in congress, for example.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. Outside of PR, not sure any of them would be considered for stand alone statehood

They US spends much more on those areas than they take in. They also have local elected governments. Whether the trade off are worth it is in the eye of the beholder. I know a number of people growing up in Hawaii thought that being a commonwealth would have been a much better deal for Hawaii

[damntexdem]

3. There has long been debate over the status of Puerto Rico.

There have been three major positions: 1) remain a 'commonwealth,' with American citizenship and services, votes in presidential primaries, nonvoting representation in Congress; 2) become a state; or 3) become an independent country. There has been no consensus in Puerto Rico, but with most sentiment being divided between #1 and #2.

Guam, American Samoa, Virgin Islands, and so on have had less attention -- but a good deal of exploitation.

Then there's that other nonstate, though onshore: the District of Columbia. Don't forget DC.

[arcane1]

4. I vote for #2 n/t