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Katherine Alejandra Cross

For some in PR, "free association" means the status quo. In English we call PR a "commonwealth," in Spanish, that's translated as "Estado Libre Asociado." But others want to push PR towards being part of the US's Compact of Free Association--like Palau and Micronesia.

Compact of Free Association - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
2694
Katherine Alejandra Cross

These agreements, however, are country by country. Major outstanding issues would have to be defined. Does PR use the US dollar? Does birthright US citizenship still apply? What about PR's debt? Will the US military maintain access to the island?

Обсуждение

1 прямых ответов · 18 сообщений

Katherine Alejandra Cross

Such complexities cloud measures of support for "sovereignty," because their answers will change Puerto Rican islanders' views on the issue. And rest assured, if the US *does* get serious about a binding referendum, this will all become more urgent by far. If you care, you should be ready.

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
Katherine Alejandra Cross

Finally, there's the question of the Jones Act. Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. If you're Alaskan or Hawaiian, you're also probably familiar with the fuckery it's caused. For Puerto Rico, the stakes are even higher.

Merchant Marine Act of 1920 - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
Adam “TurboLib” Sessler 🇺🇦

Would the “negotiation” on these matters be with the governor of PR or would they need to use sympathetic reps in congress (or their non-voting ones)?

Ответ для Adam “TurboLib” Sessler 🇺🇦
Katherine Alejandra Cross

Right now, Congress would functionally be negotiating with itself on any changes to the Jones Act. The governor of PR can advocate, of course, but it's not up to her in any sense. At least not formally. If things ever got serious, of course I'm sure there'd be influence campaigns on both sides.

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
Katherine Alejandra Cross

Notably, as AK and HI make clear, PR becoming a state will not fix this law, which requires all shipping from the US mainland to be conducted by US-built, owned, and crewed ships. Think of what that does to grocery prices and you see the problem.

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
Katherine Alejandra Cross

Independence would make it go away immediately--would COFA do it too? Maybe? But also with statehood, PR would gain valuable representation in Congress and could tip the balance. Who knows? But if you're advocating for statehood you need to keep this in mind.

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
Vman29397

Wow somebody making a civilized response i applaud you

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
Vlad Oligarchsky

The Jones Act does not apply to any of the COFA states, and there's no reason to believe it would in the hypothetical case of Puerto Rico becoming an independent state that joins COFA. In practice, there's no legal way it could - the US has no authority over Palau/FSM/Marshall Islands trade law.

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
Runako

The issues are complex from the PR side, much more clear when viewed from the US side.

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
V
Vince Cima

Thanks for this thread, really informative!

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
MegaForte84

I really wish the states that were originally helped by that would get involved. I live in the greater Boston area and back then it encouraged shipbuilding at the port here, but now we aren't doing that and it limits commercial shipping access from the port to every other on the coast and to PR.

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
hahlen

The Jones Act should be repealed, but at the very least the non-contiguous states need to be exempted from it.

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
Dennis Lytton

The Jones Act sucks so hard because we've allowed the US merchant marine and US shipbuilding to atrophy

Ответ для Dennis Lytton
David (he, him)

Tell me what you know about the merchant marine

Ответ для Katherine Alejandra Cross
David (he, him)

Yes, because deregulation always works so well 🙄 The "invisible hand of the free market" and all that. If you wish to repeal the Jones Act, just be honest enough to say that Union workers make too much money and their kids shouldn't have health insurance.

Ответ для David (he, him)
Alex

its always that thing

Ответ для David (he, him)
Dennis Lytton

We need to invest in American shipbuilding and jobs for American flaged ships. That is the answer to shipping costs for AK, HI, and PR.

Ответ для David (he, him)
John Brown’s Body

Union workers make too much money and their children shouldn’t have healthcare… Now that I’ve repeated your stupid trope, let’s get on with it and stop letting anti-social unions prevent economic benefit for the whole population.