Good morning, John.
This election was one for the history books.
The first female amputee in Congress,
the first female Asian American Senator,
the first openly gay Senator
the first second term for a black president
the first legalization of recreational marijuana
and the first legalization of gay marriage.
But it is possible that the biggest piece of American history
that happened yesterday was not discussed on any of the news stations that you watched last night.
Indeed, it may not even have been decided in America
but, interestingly, it was decided by Americans.
Because Puerto Ricans, who live in Puerto Rico, are American citizens.
They use American money, they travel with American passports, they can serve in the American military, and they must obey American laws.
But Puerto Rico is not part of America, it is a territory, a colony, basically.
Puerto Rico, as it stands, governs itself,
But their foreign policy is determined by the United States government.
We decide who they trade with,
And who they go to war with,
And they pay many but not all of the same taxes that Americans pay
But they can't vote in our elections, and they don't have representation in our government
The U.N., which is sort of staunchly opposed to colonization, unsurprisingly says that this is not really O.K.
Which is why, the southern most point in the Eurozone is here which is an island that is part of France.
But the people of Puerto Rico, had always, until yesterday, just said that it's fine with them that things are the way that they are so the U.N. is cool with it.
And y'know the people of Puerto Rico have it pretty well, they have universal health care,
Their life expectancy is longer that ours,
they pay into and receive Social Security,
But at the same time they have thirteen percent unemployment and per capita income two thirds that of the poorest U.S state
Also interestingly, the U.N.,
President Obama,
Governor Romney,
and the platforms of both the Democratic and Republican parties all agree,
that Puerto Rico should be able to decide for itself whether or not it should be a state.
But now that, apparently, they actually have decided that, that raises some really interesting issues.
And potentially problems, beyond whether or not we can fit an extra star on the flag
The issue that I think we'll hear from the opposition, is that there will be twenty billion dollars of extra costs for Medicare and Medicaid,
But honestly the bigger political issue here is that this will change the balance of congress.
If Puerto Rico became a state, it would automatically get two senators, so there would be 102 senators,
And it would also get five or six representatives in the House.
Those five representatives would not just be added to the house, they would actually have to come out of other districts in America.
In effect, decreasing the representation of other states, which a lot of states, I think, would probably be upset about.
Also, probably all of those Congresspeople would be Democrats, so this is not something that a Republican house, for example, would be super excited about giving a supermajority to.
Because, yes, in order to grant statehood to a place, you don't just need 51% of the vote, you need two thirds.
And in a country where we can, right now, barely get anything done with a simple majority, a super majority just seems crazy.
Another complication is that this remains an extremely decisive issue inside of Puerto Rico when they just elected a governor,
Which is basically their president, who is not in favor of statehood.
But what could end up being the bigger barrier to Puerto Rico's statehood has nothing to do with what's happening in Puerto Rico,
Or the politics of this situation,
It's simply that Americans don't seem to really like change very much.
By now it almost feels like America's number of states is somehow numerologically fixed
And these 50 states have always been and shall always be these 50 states
Now, of course, that isn't true, we have had many different numbers of states throughout our history.
But let's be honest, it's not about what's true, it's about what feels true,
And, to a lot of people, that's what America feels like, and messing with the fundamental idea of American-ness is not a great political decision, generally.
Even if it's the right decision.
Nonetheless, a fascinating outcome on a fascinating and historical day.
Thank you to everyone who voted yesterday in the U.S. and in Puerto Rico,
Let us all please proceed toward a more perfect union, no matter how many states that union has,
John, I'll see you tomorrow.
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But you might want to go to DFTBA.com tomorrow morning, and check it out.