On Monday, April 23rd, the Wall Street Journal printed an Opinion piece, "Puerto Rican Limbo" by former governor of Pennsylvania and former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh which I thought was very interesting. I wonder what you think?
"Puerto Rico's undefined political status is a serious national policy issue involving civil rights and democracy for four million U.S. citizens.
Although Puerto Ricans were granted citizenship 90 years ago, Congress still has not adopted a policy to legally determine the island's permanent status. This is a major deviation from the traditional procedure for clear and orderly transition of territories to full democracy through statehood or separate nationhood. As a result, a population of American citizens in Puerto Rico that is larger than that of 25 states endures an indefinite state of political limbo.
This week Congress will hold a hearing on the Puerto Rico Democracy Act -- H.R. 900, sponsored by Rep. José Serrano (D., N.Y.) with 96 cosponsors -- which would resolve the island's political status by creating a long-overdue, federally recognized self-determination process. Congress has the responsibility to settle this national matter by passing this important legislation.
The Puerto Rico dilemma is actually the result of a century-old policy mistake, made during America's experiment with imperialism. In 1898 Congress implemented the Treaty of Paris, annexing Puerto Rico, but without determining a clear policy on the island's future.
Incredibly, in the nine decades since Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens there has never been a federally sponsored referendum to determine if our fellow Americans want to continue the status quo, with democracy limited to local affairs, or seek statehood or even nationhood. As it stands now, Puerto Ricans can neither vote for president, nor do they have a voting representative in Congress.
Puerto Rico has remained in this political purgatory for so long because of what I believe are flawed federal court rulings that, in effect, gave Congress license to defer indefinitely measures that would enable U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico to redeem the fundamental right of government by consent of the governed. By failing to sponsor a realistic referendum process based on legally valid options, Congress has left Puerto Ricans without a well-defined path to democratic self-determination.
While there is bipartisan support in Congress to give voters in Puerto Rico an opportunity to determine their future status, majority backing has not been forged in Puerto Rico or Congress due to the lack of clearly defined terms for any new status. What has ensued is a state of confusion that has exacerbated the debate.
In 1952, Puerto Rico was allowed by Congress to establish a "commonwealth," a system of internal self-government in local matters otherwise not governed by federal law. This was intended to provide a temporary solution for overseeing local affairs until federally sponsored self-determination led to a permanent status. But many have incorrectly claimed that the "commonwealth" structure now defines Puerto Rico's status.
Since 1952 every U.S. president has endorsed self-determination for the territory, and all local political parties also agree that federally authorized self-determination is needed because the current arrangement is not fully democratic. The Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico has petitioned Congress to sponsor a status resolution process based on status options compatible with federal law.
The solution seems so apparent, yet action is still lacking, due in part to a series of locally sponsored status votes that have taken place over the past four decades. These votes have been inconclusive because of highly politicized ballot language that included unrealistic and legally invalid options that could not pass muster in Congress.
At the same time, the legislation now pending in Congress to clarify the real options is opposed by proponents of the status quo in Puerto Rico, who advocate an "enhanced commonwealth" status that would never be endorsed by Congress. This status would include federal benefits equal to those given to the states and U.S. citizenship in perpetuity, while allowing Puerto Rico to enter into independent foreign policy and trade agreements with other nations.
It would also continue the annual U.S. taxpayer subsidy, establish Puerto Rico's right to be a virtually separate nation within America, and allow it to exercise a local veto power over all federal law, while allowing unrestricted travel of persons and goods to the mainland. This option is not legally possible or politically realistic. It is incompatible with the Constitution, laws and policies of the United States.
It is time for Congress to define realistic options so that true self-determination is possible. It is up to Congress to enable the people of Puerto Rico to choose among statehood, independence or sovereign nationhood under a treaty of free association. These are the only options available under the U.S. Constitution and federal law.
Puerto Ricans are now part of the fabric of our nation, living the American Dream, but also seeking its full promise of freedom and opportunity -- just like the rest of us. On the island, the strong bond that exists with the U.S. has allowed for English and Spanish to flourish as the island's official languages.
Our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico have served on every battlefield since World War I to defend and ensure democratic rights that we in the U.S cherish -- but that they do not have in Puerto Rico. They have long since earned the right to legitimate self-determination."
“A country has to have only one official language, if men are to understand one another... It is eminently fair that a country’’’’s official language should be the language of the majority.”
--- Ayn Rand
The Constitution of United States is one, delegating power. The Constitution of the State is one restraining power: and this difference must be kept in mind in construing those instruments. The Supreme Courts of the United States, in construing certain parts of the Constitution, have, on several occasions, referred to, It is strangely absurd to suppose that a four million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which bind each of them separately." They want an America as good as its promise. Now how can they be wrong too, don't say you know more that all those scientists combined. There is only one thing to do. But all the rights were cited as per the Constitution. Every court would be at liberty to call in such exterior aid, and from such sources as they should think proper. Who [is] to determine what histories are to be consulted, on what particular portions are to be taken as true? Who is to say, "thus far, and no farther?” If we are to go out of that instrument to look for aid, in the journals, newspapers, publications, debates and histories of any particular time, who is to limit the extent of that judicial wandering? Why must there always be a first? Which came first the chicken or the egg? Answer: Neither and both. No change can come about from absolute uniformity. Thus, there never was a time when absolute uniformity existed. There was NO BEGINNING. Then as citizens of the United STATES, we stand mutually pledged to each other, to see that all the rights, privileges, and immunities, granted by the constitution of the United STATES, are extended to all, if need be, by the force of the whole Union. This could not have been effected without destroying every person constituted within each state, as one political being called people cannot exist within another. NO! What is it, then, to be a citizen of the United STATES? It is to be invested with a title to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and to be protected in the enjoyment thereof, by the guaranty of four millions of people. We never made a choice and we have not and are not separating ourselves from our natural environment. It is not so much to question whether a given past or future is the real one. There are really no such things. What exists is the. Now. THE UNION. Who made it? "We, the people of the United States." But who were they? But, this is the great argument which pleads against justice to the nation, and therefore requires some examination.
In examining the Matrix, Task Force looks at the minuses, or whatever other notation you used to indicate evidence that may be inconsistent with "Historical evidence of the meaning of certain provisions of that instrument. It presents to us one of the grandest experiments that ever was made in political science. It is a mental state where one is so involved in their learning experience that they reach a point where they seem to pay no attention to anything outside of what they are doing. Against such a decision, it becomes every Puerto Rican, who values the American constitution, to raise ins. voice. You have to put in the effort needed to get clear, to bring clarity into your life. The manifested whole is broken down into unconscious, unphysical realms, due to the inability to co-conceive its being. Puerto Rico is not a Colony. Puerto Rico is a territorial of Unites States period. Now can they be U.S. citizens without statehood? It might legislate over the class of free Puerto Ricans, for some useful chaos purpose. That is the issue. It could not be correctly used as a vehicle of power, either external or internal. I can recollect nothing which might not, according to the doctrines advanced, be made an object of exclusive legislation by congress. We the people believe that Puerto Rico is nota a Colony, but a territorial of a USA call commonwealth. However we do not believe in ELA ela is just a Spanish concept that does not equal to the commonwealth both arte separate American terms. If we are to depart from the letter and spirit of a written instrument, and search for the intentions of the makers thereof, in the journals, newspapers, debates, and partisan representations of the sayings and doings of those who participated in the making of the instrument, it will become nectary to remodel certain other rules of interpretation. The language of all these sacred, civil authorities, is carefully chastened of a word, at discord with their purpose of imposing restrictions upon governments, by the natural right of mankind to establish societies for themselves. I like to think of commonwealth-evolution as highly intelligent on its own time scale, but without the definition of statehood-intelligence as simply problem-solving, I can't do that and the brilliant solutions that commonwealth-evolution can come up with become unexplainable. How does it do that if it has no intelligence? Now, if the programmed task is to take care for the integrity of the program also . . . we are mathematically safe. To an arbitrary degree. And it is equally true, which no State or nation can affect or bind property out of its territory, or persons not residing within it. No State, therefore, can enact laws to operate beyond its own dominions, and, if it attempts to do so, it may be lawfully refused obedience. Such laws can have no inherent authority extraterritorially. The more aware the mind gets in this transcend-and-include growth, the more it encompasses the immediacy of its predicatement from which its memories and anticipations unfold. That is the issue. And all this playing around isn't going to solve the task force puzzle problem, because United States is determined and understand that constitutionally. And therefore, that is the only solution that we the people can find. Can I conceive of something that is intelligent and not conscious? Under this supposition it follows, that sovereignty or self-government is natural right, and that governments cannot participate of either, because their rights are all conventional. This opinion is so firmly fixed in our Borinquen Taino Indian country. However, in some cases exterior politeness may subsist with internal contempt, or verbal concession with practical disavowal, that I may safely assume the principle, that the right of self-government, and sovereignty also if it came from God, resides in the people. This being a natural right, like the right to our own labor, no existing generation can deprive another of it, and convey it to kings or governments, upon any better ground, than it could decree, that the heads of all future generations, as fast as they arrived to manhood, should be taken away from them. If no conventional act can deprive man of life, liberty and property, and if sovereignty in governments had this effect, it follows that sovereignty cannot be conventionally established. That whether gentlemen deduce it from this source by hyperbolical inferences, or from a divine origin, it is still a useless, foreign and perplexing word to our political system. But supposing the rights of sovereignty and of the self-government to be inseparably united with each other; and that a number of men assembled to exercise one right, are also invested with the other; yet I see no reason why they may not establish a government with limited powers, and retain this imaginary sovereignty if it is real; and instead of uniting with these limited powers, the indefinite powers of sovereignty, agree that they will be subordinate to their will, restricted by their constitutional mandate, and liable to their revision. This was actually done in the establishment of all our constitutions; and as these conventional acts, far from bestowing sovereignty on governments, have actually retained it in the hands of the people, if it existed at all, and if sovereignty may have a conventional origin, it is so deposited, I will therefore disregard the distinction between the rights of sovereignty and of a self-government in the progress of this enquiry, and in accordance with common language, use the term "sovereignty" as an attribute of the right of a self-government, and only applicable to the people. The difference between the right of self-government, and the sovereignty of governments, is very material. Under one principle the people bestow limited powers; under the other, they receive limited franchises. All apportionments are of necessity artificial and all of nature is ultimately a seamless web.
Statehood-Consciousness is not situated somewhere within the MAP_BODY. It’s the other way around: the map body is situated within statehood-consciousness. "The constitution, and the laws of the United States which will be made in the pursuance thereof, and all treaties made or which will be made, under the authority of the United States, will be the supreme law of the land, and the judges, in every state, will be bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding." By this I mean, we should all strive to become more ethical, moral, sensitive, sober, trusting, loving, respectful, tolerant, compassionate and responsible as PEOPLE. You pay a price for STATEHOOD’ clarity, it is not cheap, it is not easy. You need the willingness to suspend your opinions and beliefs. You need to develop unclouded perception. You go beyond thoughts and concepts into life itself. Your American life becomes existential in Borinquen, USA. A different past or future sets a direction, and it will attract experiences in the present 50 states of the American union; that will match as well as possible. The associated inhabitants of each state, or the unassociated inhabitants of all the states and US. Territories This question is an exposition, either of the ignorance or the design of construction. But you have built in a safety measure within this reality, within the concept of time, where you have said that there is going to be statehood American process. There is going to be time to think about historical full democracy consequences —— and yet at the same time you get impatient with the task forces process, because you do remember instant 51st Star manifestation, and you do know that, in Truth, it does not take time to manifest. The only way that Statehood-COMMONWEALTH programming will ever amount to anything is by much higher level programming languages and supporting specialized, with multiple dynamic intrusive characteristics that can be applied to all its components. It can be in an instant. But I say to you that there are American value in commonwealth process. The people of this commonwealth have the sole right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign and independent state. The people do hereby mutually agree with each other, to form themselves into a free, sovereign and independent body politick or state." This coming New Statehood Estado 51st for Puerto Rico can’t be compared to past phases. Our conclusion then is, that the Federal government has full and exclusive jurisdiction over all the Territories of the United States; and that the native inhabitants of those Territories are citizens of the United States and subject to HER jurisdiction. That they are en shielded by the Federal Constitution and entitled to all the privileges and immunities guaranteed by that instrument to persons and citizens of the Union. In a political instrument, the term exclusively possesses a collective, inclusive, and social sense, and is never used to describe a number of men in a state of nature. The people are a collective being. No people or communities have ever been composed in the United States, except by the inhabitants of each state, associating distinctly from every other state, by their own separate consent. Thus people in each state was constituted, and these separate communities confederated, first by the instrumentality of their separate governments, and secondly by the separate authority of the people composing each state. Common consent is necessary to constitute a people, and no such consent, expressly or impliedly, can be shewn, by which all the inhabitants of the United States have ever constituted themselves into one people. Consciousness has to cohere with intelligence. Statehood-Intelligence cannot be. The matrix should not dictate the conclusion to you. We have been lately rushing rapidly toward the gulps of consolidation in decolonization. It makes us sincere, and it makes life very much alive! But then this power is a spherical sovereignty, and it is an appendage of sovereignty to annex conditions to its grants."Without Commonwealth-consciousness. Yet consciousness CAN be . . . without intelligence. To try and separate Puerto Rico from the New 51st State of the Union is fighting a lost corpus sprit battle, and a sure way to ultimate frustration. Because we see ‘[Commonwealth-statehood ] and Borinquen as opposites instead of as polarities, we've become afraid. It sounds strange, but Puerto Rico is part of the 21st century American life. 51st Star-Commonwealth, Statehood included, the whole U.S. of A phenomenon. Statehood is a blessing in disguise. It gives meaning to our American alive. New states may be admitted by congress into this union." Such is the whole power. Such is the recent construction of the words quoted. The meaning of the word "state" is first to be settled.
We the American people of Borinquen have understood it to mean "a political association of people, able to confederate with similar associations." It was never before imagined, that congress could make a state. The power is to admit, not to make. "That clearly advocates the power of personal determination" If congress cannot mould, it cannot modify a state. It must be the work of the sovereignty of the people, associating by their title to a self-government. It begins by declaring that, 'when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to [60 U.S. 393, 410] assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.' Everything we experience and know is part of the conclusion-- the collective brain's product, the show of experience. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among them is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' After repentance has opened our eyes, can conscience be appeased without reformation? I rarely ever see topics discussing genetic breakthroughs, it seems all "Nanotechnology this, STATEHOOD-INTELLIGENCE that" and makes me worry because I don't want to put faith in the idea that we will be able to control whatever we the Taino people, we the American people of Borinquen wishes to with nanobots, I would rather put faith in proven technologies that already are here and now, not speculated upon. "The Convention has and can exercise plenary powers subject to the limitations: (1) That the Constitution will be republican in form; (2) that it will not be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and the principles of the Declaration of Independence; (3) that no distinction will be made on account of race or color; and (4) that the Convention will accept by ordinance irrevocable all the terms and conditions of the Enabling Act." Another problem I see is that if you can't define degrees or distinctions between statehood-consciousness and non-consciousness, then what is the value of the task force term? "It is true that Congress has the power to impose conditions upon an US territory as a condition precedent to entitle it to admission as a state." Does American way of life simply inhere this ineffable quality in an all or nothing fashions? The words are, 'Congress will have power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.' What's a problem? Sensing a resonance between dividable? There is one thing that binds all Native American Indian people and that is our common indigenous blood that binds us all into a common struggle for the survival of our people. We are of many tribal nations yet we are but ONE American Indian Nation. American Consciousness (in this case) begins in the division of The Infinite (my "immanent/Transcendent axis" and your "one-ness") into a nucleated Borinquen existence on a specific scale or plane of sensory resonance (e.g., Deleuze's "Transcendental Empiricism" and Bucky Fuller's "tune-in-ability"). Flow" Integrating technology (U.S. Citizen) is what statehood educators are doing to help their people of Borinquen reach a state of "flow." Flow can best be described as a high level of statehood, relaxed concentration where an individual is actively engaged in learning something new, but not to the point of ^NPP/PPD/PIP^ political frustration. Of Course, we the American people or this US Territories is struck with its novelty and beauty. Otherwise, it is whatever the statehood intelligence for our Borinquen, USA decides, that's an issue of semantics. Not really. A task force problem is a barrier, another derivative or the same decolonization virus. Only if the entire ‘STATEHOOD’ goal IS the solution to the given problem. Historically, Most American goals are complex. They have many problems to solve before the goal can be attained. Task Forces Problems are obstacles to the solution of complex goals. Many problems must be solved on the way to statehood for Borinquen, but unless STATEHOOD is exactly defined by the Federal US Government, the wrong problems will show up and their solutions will lead no where desired. I am posting on this thread because its premise --that statehood intelligence should first be defined before one can create it -- may be important. The removal of an obstacle to a goal, defining a goal and the activity of seeking that goal is all entirely different activity. Defining a goal defines the barriers one will encounter in moving toward that goal. We perceive this passive substance by not perceiving it. Language itself is only a self-referential set of them. We the American people cannot put statehood technology on hold for morality to catch up. It is highly task force debatable weather unaugmented human beings are even capable of inventing and following an adequate rational morality. Humans to date do not make the prospects hopeful. If this is so then going forward with the augmentation and increase of human and statehood-intelligence is the only way this world will become more moral, whatever the word "moral" is taken to mean. No State will make or enforce any law which will abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor will any State deprives any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. So in the case of Pensacola Tel. Co. vs. Western Union Tel. Co., 96 U.S., p. 10, the opinion having been delivered by Chief- justice, Waite, I find this: The Government of the United States, within the scope of its power, operates upon every foot of territory under its jurisdiction. It legislates for the whole Nation, and is not embarrassed by State lines. Liberty is not a social question. Civil equality is not social equality. We are equal only in rights. Rather than being just a "status quo map" that produces a miraculous answer, the system should have an explanation capability in the same way that American experts can explain their reasoning. This feature is very important for several reasons. The skeleton statehood’ helps us fill in the flesh on the statehood skeleton. The task force is not to build a mighty oak tree, but a humble seed." "A seed for statehood is a statehood capable of self-understanding, self-modification, and recursive self-enhancement. One reason is that Puerto Rico, USA life and property may depend on the answers of the expert system. Because of the great potential for harm, an expert system must be able to justify its conclusions in the same way, a real American expert can explain why a certain conclusion was reached. Thus, an explanation facility provides an understandable check of the reasoning for We the People of United States. A second reason for having an explanation facility occurs in the development phase of an expert system to confirm that the knowledge has been correctly acquired and is being correctly used by the system.
This is important in debugging the task force format because the knowledge may be incorrectly entered by typos or be incorrect due to misunderstandings between the knowledge engineer and the expert. A good explanation facility allows the expert and the knowledge engineer to verify the correctness of the knowledge."We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government in our Borinquen becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Borinquen Commonwealth states’ form of Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them will seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. This issue is not about dictatorships, and it is about ideologies and cultural basis. Developing human psychologies to be nondestructive will be a major help toward making our living environments free of destructive forms caused by us. I was taught high crimes times murder always is wrong. II was taught that lusting after money and power is wrong. I was taught that good men prevailed and evil men sooner or later paid for their acts. Another aspect in approaching a problem situation is that what we perceive as an obstacle and why we perceive it as such are questions not necessarily consciously addressed together, but both are components of the context. However, when I consider myself to be task-force oriented, I may think it is counterproductive to examine or question the significance of the task force itself. The drive to be "efficient" generally invokes a rigid frame in which to conceptualize the status quo problem/solution. We haven't even been able to get governments and scientists to agree on the subject of global warming and maintaining the supply of clean water. Much of the research in the areas of biotechnology are private companies and international corporations that answer to no specific government. So who is going to do the controlling and how? Will companies motivated primarily by profit take it upon themselves? I don't think so. Often such rigidity works against the learning in the doing of the task forces as well as the learning about oneself in relation to the context of the task force. Yet this grade remains low because the number of sites could grow, creating a backlog in the Borinquen system. Roads went up from an "F-" to an "F+," and bridges rose from a "D-" to a "D." Both these categories have benefitted from an increase in federal and local funding currently allocated to ease road congestion and decaying bridges. However, with 33 percent of bridges still ranked as structurally deficient or obsolete and nearly a third of major roads considered being in poor or mediocre condition, engineers warn that Congress cannot afford to allow promised funding for transportation to lapse. I don't see how we can expect to progress to some techno-eschatological state while the foundations of civilization are crumbling. We have about as much individual control over society's growth and maturity as individual cells have for the entire body. People are limited by their intelligence. Given an upgrade, I believe that much of what is ““evil”” in this world will disappear. Maybe I am just an optimist. English is not my first language, sometimes, the details get's lost in preconceptions about what you meant. A complete understanding of responsibility is the key to psychological freedom. After all, it became clear that the Roman Empire was in decline when it let its bridges, roads, aqueducts and fortifications turn to rubble. Three categories showed modest improvements. Efforts to reduce hazardous waste have improved that category's grade from a "F-" to a "F+," primarily because effective regulation and enforcement of current Borinquen policies have largely halted the contamination of new sites. What do you think is the likely alternative and why do you think so?
I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived by the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign nation of many sovereign states; a perfect union, one and inseparable established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. We elect people who use "words" to get elected and somehow think they won't use "words" to keep the positions of power and faked supremacy in place and keep the status quo . . . It is really because too few people understand the language which everyone uses with so much mediocrity . . . ? Is it *so* *hard* *to* *sees* that *language* is the primary problem with its dual nature and multilateral interpretative meanings so fluently misused by the meager minds of politicians and people in power to keep their position as the prominent directors of so much public attention? Direct abuse of language is one thing. The point you are missing is: Language and science based on mathematics are limited, they address only a subset of reality, and the lack of acknowledgment of this limitation and its significance constitutes another hidden, indirect, but major abuse of language and science. "American democracy's unfinished business. "Freedom, including academic freedom, is the best way to make Americans in Borinquen Society safe. "What the people want is very simple. " Stop resisting and denying accelerating change because it is happening right here and now. Just hop on and enjoy the ride.
It would not appear that granting statehood final determination would violate the interest of the United States, it seems to be in the best interest of all concerned, Where intuitive illumination represents the shining bright 51st start, the final concluding act of full democracy creativity.
You decide!
God blesses American and Puerto Rico, USA.
“The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation.”
--- William McKinley