This is one issue that comes up from time to time, and the reality is that it is more beneficial to Puerto Rico to remain a territory, than to become a state.

I know they have been talking about it since 1990, but the discussion may go further back then that. I just remember having a class project that year where we tried to redesign the American Flag so it would have 51 stars.

Puerto Rico is not a Territory - it is a Commonwaelth. I lived there for three years in the 1970s and thoroughly enjoyed it. BTW: the vast majority of Puerto Ricans speak English quite well; they also speak Spanish as their native tongue. They were part of Spain for over 400 years - the streets of Old San Juan are paved with bricks that were the ballast on Christopher Columbus' ships on his second voyage. We should respect the heritage of PR and not mock its citizens with pompous comments such as fall from the lips of Ricky Santorum.

@Mad in CT, amen hermano!

PR's don't pay taxes and have basically been living off us this whole time. They need to either join the party and start contributing or give them their independence and be rid of them.

"The welfare State" would look great on there license plates

jw101,

Residents in Puerto Rico do indeed pay taxes, but they do so to their commonwealth government, a tax agreement entered into by the US Congress and in effect for at least 60 years. As the US government denies representation (other than symbolic) to the people of Puerto Rico, they rightly should pay no federal taxes. After all, the rallying cry of the American Revolution was "No taxation without representation."

At any rate, the federal government gives more money per capita to each of the fifty states than it does to Puerto Rico. Thus, the fifty states are much more welfare states than Puerto Rico. But, as jack-332279 suggests, the people in the fifty states wouldn't take kindly to having "The Welfare State" emblazoned on their license plates.

Lune

Ha, like the RIGHT will understand that ??? They need to look at themselves first the RED states are the Welfare States that take more than the put in the pot ......

Santorum is a douchebag. I still cant' believe anyone would vote for this jerkoff.

I hope he wins the nomination just as much as you, Charlie.

I dealt with him personally on a few occasions, and you come away with that 1930's Germany kind of feeling......but then again you can say that about a good number of GOPers.

And I'm an Independent...... JMJ

to clear up translations:

Mira, conyo, Padre Santorum: que hijo de puta, malecón tu eres! Ay! Otro Republicano dice algo mas estúpido. La única cosas tu entiendes son la Biblia, pistolas y Dios. Otro caso de un Republicano abriendo la boca y insertar el pie! Que mamao!

this means

Look, conyo, Father Santorum, that son of a bitch, you're boardwalk! Oh! Another Republican says something else stupid. The only things you understand are the Bible, guns and God. Another case of a Republican opened his mouth and insert foot! That mamao!

Just Bob and Charlie: Totally agree with both of you. To me, Rick Santorum comes across as really angry most of the time. I think he is unstable. His wife looks like she has a smile plastered to her face, because anything less might get her a backhand by him later on. The man is against anything that isn't wonder bread white and male. Any of you Ricky fans out there need not respond cause I'm not listening!

I don't think Santorum made up a lie here. I think he simply doesn't know that English isn't the official language and not a requirement to become a state. It's just more ignorance. Although I'm not sure which is worse, lying or being ignorant.

Why do I get the feeling that we are all going to need a case of pepto each before this crap is over with come November! We don't even need to keep handing out the rope, Santorum hangs himself every time he opens his mouth. If you will all notice, everytime Ricky is feeling good about his standing in the race, his idiocy goes up along with the few delegates he seems to squeak out of each primary. How many primaries have we been forced to endure? I liken it to having each fingernail pulled off with a pliers. When will the agony end?!

Obama/Biden 2012!

Kevin - You can't let the nitwits get to you. They are doing fantastically with the self inflicted gun shot wounds all by themselves. I just sit back and laugh at the latest faux pas by this guy. Again, they are handing the election over to Obama with six hands (Newt, Mitt and Rick).

Beth,

I appreciate your efforts. I think what is lost on people is that there is a movement to make English the Official language of the US. I saw the context he was in no way saying to eliminate spanish, but recognizing the reality that English would become the primary language.

Canada has a English and French as equal languages. That is appropriate there because their economy is so strongly tied to ours, and we are french deficient. For us declaring a co-language would be a disaster, and really, we would need to declare 3 languages as equals.

In Japan because of the concern over embarrassing a Japanese executive who is not fluent in a particular language they only speak Japanese.

Regardless it is a gaffe that will hurt, because partisans will seize the sound bite.

It's more than just "a gaffe." It's yet another ridiculous moment in the ongoing story of a man who pretends to be qualified to become president, but who can't open his mouth without revealing that he has zero grasp of reality.

DB Akron,

Speaking of gaffes, let me tell you as gently as I can that your assertion that Canadians speak English because non-French speaking US citizens are sooooo terribly important to them is ludicrous and nonsensical to the point of guffawing. Some Canadians (about 60% speak) English because English is their mother tongue. Other Canadians (about 30%) speak French because French is their mother tongue. These Canadians merrily speak their mother tongues with nary a thought for the self-important people south of the border.

You should note that Canadians (at least in my experience traveling there) see their dual language heritage (French and English) as a crucial aspect helping to define their identity as a people. This attitude directly contrasts with the attitude of hordes of US citizens, who seem to think if anyone uses more than "taco" and "margarita" in their speech, then the country is doomed to wrack and ruin.

Lune

Exactly Lune ...

A little study of Canadian history will show that parts of it were settled by the French, parts by the British and the dual official language reflects that (and has NOTHING to do with language challenged Americans).

Canada isn't the only country with dual, or even multi- official languages. Finland has Finnish AND Swedish; Belgium has Dutch, German and French (and many speak Flemish); Switzerland has German, French, Italian and Romansh. There are many more.

For us declaring a co-language would be a disaster, and really, we would need to declare 3 languages as equals.

No, actually it would not. In fact, we might just learn to speak something besides broken English.

Beth-440386,

I'm entirely puzzled (and more than a little distressed) by the irrational fear of languages that seems to have gripped so much of the US citizenry. Back when I struggled with high school Spanish and German (not so long ago, after all) the learning of other languages was more or less considered an honorable endeavor. In grade school social studies, we even learned about the ways that the varied linguistic history of the United States had immeasurably enriched American English. Now US people like to strut about and parade their general ignorance of other languages. What a perplexing development.

Lune

Lune -- You seem to be rather young (lucky you). Can I recommend a book, The Ugly American?

It was written in the 1950's, during the one of the heights of the Cold War. You'll find that our attitude then was also very superior. The book is still in print, and if you have a Kindle, available at Amazon.

I guess my point is, this goes in cycles. It's generally a cycle of fear. It's easier to "unite" people to a cause through fear than anything else. In my day, we "feared" the communists. Now we "fear" the immigrants and the Muslims. The master of this of course was Hitler -- he was the master of uniting a country in fear and hatred, thus the Holocaust.

When this cycle of fear comes upon us again, we become isolationist and "superior" ... thus the study of languages and other cultures is diminished.

The bright side of this is that the cycle eventually returns to the "highs" of where the US actively engages with other nations and these studies regain importance.

I wish this wasn't true ... that we could get away from the culture of fear. But I suspect that is the human condition, as it has repeated over almost all cultures of the world since the beginning of recorded history.

Funny I missed that one. I live in area with a fair amount of "Spanish speakers", and no one ever insisted I learn Spanish. It's helpful to know because many people in the world in several locations speak it, but no one demanded I learn it. I never had anyone else complain about it around here or anywhere else I have lived.

I missed that one, too. Oh, wait! That must be something the tea party bigots brainwashed into your head! If you are going to say something that outlandish, at least back it up with some facts, an article, something! You want to talk about a communistic nation? Hire Santorum for the job and see where that gets you! The man apparently has no tolerance whatsoever. He should be ashamed of himself for going to PR and completely disrespecting them. And PR is one of ours! Imagine what he would do if you idiots have a chance of putting him in the WH and he goes to another country like Iraq? What is he going to do, demand that in order for us to work better together that their people have to take on English as their main language? Doesn't what I just said sound completely ridiculous? That is you!

Truett,

Show evidence that your claim is true. As a bilingual attorney, I've worked with Latinos from a lot of countries for over 20 years, I've read publications in Spanish, and I have never heard a single "demand that English-speaker Americans speak Spanish." Why did you just make this up?

http://www.demopolislive.com/forums/off-topic/16489-spanish-class-required-school-system.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,329669,00.html

Then there are events like being in a fast food restaurant of a national chain and having the manager tell me that I needed to learn to speak Spanish if I wanted to order food around there....I was in U.S. military uniform at the time.

TruettCollins,

According to your first link, a school system will require students to take Spanish classes, so in your mind that means some unnamed "Spanish speakers" are demanding that US English speakers learn Spanish. Pay attention, honey: The school system set an academic requirement; no Spanish speakers went about demanding that people learn Spanish. By your reasoning, we should all be up in arms because a school system requires students to take Algebra ("Good God! The Algebra speakers are trying to make us speak Algebra!") or requires them to take Phys Ed ("Good God! The Phys Ed speakers are trying to make us speak Phys Ed!") or requires them to take Biology ("Good God! The Biology speakers are trying to make us speak Biology!").

As for your second link, Fox News? Really?

As for your last little anecdote, it's so laughably made-for-the-moment that you tip your hand (you already had, but that's another post). Frankly, Scarlett, your assertions are horse@!$%#.

Lune

O.K. if you live in the U.S. how about we require you to learn Navajo, Cherokee, and at least 5 other of the native languages.....

Truett, you're an idiot. Whether or not you live in the US I doubt you could learn a native language. Maybe you speak English but you're struggling to comprehend what you read. Your link to faux news states that school districts in Texas chose Spanish as the second language to be taught. The other link you provided is a discussion forum with opinions. Where are these Spanish speakers that demand you learn Spanish? Considering that you listen to Faux news I can see where you think opinion is news. C'mon man.

"They probably are! How do you say 'stupid American,' in Russian?"

"Глупый Американец" (Glupoi Amerikanets)

He wants to be President--stop being a moron. Not so simple as that.

And what exactly is un-American about not having an official language?

Toasty McGrath,

And what is un-American about having an official race or an official religion? People who argue for English as an official language also often argue for White (whatever that may be) as the official race and Christianity (whatever that may be) as the official religion.

But no matter. Organized groups up to and including national governments have tried for centuries at least to legislate the language that people actually speak, and their efforts have always failed. France, for example, occupied and ruled England for about 400 years, yet the French never succeeded in stamping out the language of the people. The English, after all, still speak English. The present English-only hysteria among so many US citizens and governmental bodies will have no better success.

Lune

so it is racist to have citizens speak the same language?.......the term "racist" is thrown around by liberals so often that it has no meaning....ANYONE BUT obama IN NOVEMBER!

Come on Paddy, surely you can't be that naive.

Hey, mcpaddywack, would you take the time to learn a language of a country that you go to, assuming that you aren't anchored here by blind patriotism, or would you insist that the natives there speak English to you. Yes, in many cases, English is common worldwide, but even in Europe there is bound to be a language barrier. Having read your other blogs though, they would probably speak and write better English than you do.

douchebag?.....liberal polity rears its ugly head again...i suppose everything would be hunky dory if we all spoke different languages.....what a moron....ANYONE BUT obama IN NOVEMBER!

Paddy...just so you know, St Patties day isn't for another couple days so you need to step away from the bottle.

Do some research on the facts you f'n moron. Languange duality is already in place in Peurto Rico, but for this IDIOT to march in to town and demand that a culture adopt English as it's primary language is about as STUPID as walking into Mecca with a bible in his hand. This is a CLASSIC example of why we are SO hated by other cultures....total NITWITS like this guy (and you!!) who can't see out of your own little world.

watch how you talk oilman,or somebody is going to unleash the secret service on you.

ya...I'm quakin' in my boots.

turiddhu,

Apparently, you don't read well. A large portion of Puerto Rico's citizens are bilingual. In an post that fails to recognize that and impliedly criticizes Puerto Ricans for not understanding English, is it really too much to ask for you to use English in your uncapitalized world. The word is "criterion," not "criterium." There's no such word as "criterium." You were probably a big fan of W, who invented more words in 8 years than all the other Presidents and Presidential candidates I've listened to in my lifetime combined.

P.S.-Thanks for asking; my first exposure was to Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower in '52.

It's hard to take someone seriously who is demanding someone else learn English when he can barely speak the language himself.

How many times a day do you wack your Mcpaddy? You don't see people flocking to Dubuque, Iowa (no offense fellow Americans in Dubuque), but rather to the multi-cultural diverse hotspots such as New York, San Francisco, Miami, New Orleans, Honolulu.

I have learned four other languages and they open doors in understanding other people. It makes you much less bigoted Mr. Wack the McPaddy. Why don't you try it?

Again with the Tourette's paddy? Are you EVER going to offer up anything intelligent to a conversation?

'Diversity is overrated'? You are definitely not an educated person. How far did you get? 6th, 7th grade?

That is your argument? And some wonder why this country is in trouble. It is because of people like you.

Robert Husted

How many times a day do you wack your Mcpaddy?

haaaahahaaaa!!!!! That was awesome! LOL!!!!!

"anyone heard of the tower of babel?......."

So, what, God mixed up everyone's languages after toppling a tower to Heaven so they couldn't work together again? I guess people weren't meant to speak more than one language.

For the record, people were speaking multible languages since the dawn of men.

And where did you stay in Puerto Ricl that was so "wonderful"? Bet it wasn't where the REAL people are, where the people live in shacks or ramshackle houses, the majority of whom are in poverty because of the corrupt asses running their government.

It's always great to see the elitists talk about how "marvelous" people are when they NEVER actually see the people, but instead just mix with the other elitists.

Cheryl:

When was the last time you visited Appalachia or the inner cities here at home? Where do you live? Ohio?

You are definitely Republican and you must not be a rich one either.

Well, at least he won't have his lips stuck to some Islamic butt cheeks like Obama seems to always want to do.

Oh, and by the way, the United States actually DOES have English as their primary language, and ANY new state to this nation actually SHOULD have English as their primary language.

But nope, we have to have the "politically correct" crap of spending billions of dollars of hiring bilingual employees or printing bilingual paperwork.

It used to be that you actually HAD to speak English to even take the citizenship test in this nation. Now we've got intepreters so that people that can't understand the language of the nation they want to be CITIZENS of can actually take the test.

i can't even imagine obama in talks with iran, he was supposed to,promised it ,what ever happened to those talks?

Honey Chile Cheryl:

You would have probably been one of those persons forcing Cajuns to learn English in Louisiana or forcing the Cherokees to march on the trail of tears.

Our constitution is inclusive...not exclusive. Why I bet you did not even know there are old families in the West and Southwest who speak an old form of Spanish...predating English settlements.

Definitely narrow minded Cheryl Chile.

not narrow minded at all.look at all the other countries of the world,they all have a main language! you are the narrow minded here!

Actually, turiddhu, you're once again demonstrating your shallowness. My mother was born in Riga, Latvia, and even though she didn't get beyond the 7th grade, she knew 6 languages. She had to; European countries are small, many being the size of very small states here. When one travels in Europe, one can proceed through numerous countries in a matter of hours. Most Europeans learn at least two and very often three languages. Many other countries have different languages within their borders. For example, here's a list of languages spoken in India:

"Bharat. 1,134,403,000. Indo-Aryan 777,361,000, 76%; Dravidian 216,635,000, 21.6%; Austro-Asiatic 12,250,000, 1.2%; Tibeto-Burman 10,350,000, 1%; Other 2,468,600, Below 1%. National or official languages: Hindi and English. 22 official ‘scheduled’ languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei, Nepali, Oriya, Eastern Panjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. Literacy rate: 65%; males 75%, females 54% (2001 census). Immigrant languages: Armenian (500), Burushaski, Judeo-Iraqi Arabic, Northern Pashto (15,000), Uyghur, Walungge, Western Farsi (18,000). Also includes Arabic, Chinese. Information mainly from G. Marrison 1967; R. Hugoniot 1970; C. Masica 1991; K. S. Singh 1994, 1995; J. Matisoff, S. Baron, and J. Lowe 1996; R. Breton 1997; R. Burling 1998. Blind population: 9,000,000. Deaf population: 9,400,000 to 14,000,000 (2001). Deaf institutions: 850. The number of individual languages listed for India is 452. Of those, 438 are living languages and 14 have no known speakers." Yeah, turridhu, India has 438 languages. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=in, But for half-wits uttering ignorant BS, "all the countries of the world, they all have a main language."

Have you considered going to school to learn critical thinking?

English is not the official language in the United States. It has never been put in the Constitution of the United States. It has been up for a bill several times but never passed. We are too diversified. Why the New Englander do not speak as our southerners, and the west has a different ring in their speech. England speak English but they do not necessarily speak the same way, different dialect altogether. So get over yourselves as I doubt you speak the tongue of our forefathers.

So many opinions, so little facts. The reality is that English is a required subject in all Puerto Rico public schools, and the vast majority of the population is bilingual. This is particularly true for the younger folks, i.e those who grew up after the industrialization that began to transform the economy from the agricultural model that existed in the 1950's. Being reasonably fluent in English is necessary for having a career in the electronics and pharmaceutical companies that have located there. I dare say many Puerto Ricans have better command of English than most of the marginally literate super-patriots posting here. A far as being a welfare state, it should be noted that Puerto Ricans pay Social Security taxes, receive zero highway trust funds and have historically contibuted to the Armed Forces. There are quite a few names on that Vietnam Memorial Wall from the Island, and they deserve more respect than they're being shown here.

So, turridhu, you want to extort Puerto Ricans--no English, no statehood. Without us, Puerto Rico is just a banana republic, a fidel castro colony. Do you think you could be any more ethnocentric and disdainful of other countries, their traditions, their cultures? Have you heard about the phrase "Ugly Americans?"

Dial your overheated, slack-jawed patriotism back a little, and start showing respect for other countries like Puerto Rico. which has existed since 1508.

Did Puerto Rico ask to become a State?

Grandpa-2986035,

The people of Puerto Rico have from time to time considered the issue, but so far a decision to petition for statehood hasn't passed a referendum. The people will once again take up the issue this year, and they'll vote on it. President Obama (the first US president to visit Puerto Rico since John F. Kennedy) has stated that he will support whatever decision the people of Puerto Rico make.

Lune

Why bother trucutu, alot of these for "English only" speakers would probably try to take away Hawaii's statehood for having two official languages. I wonder how many of these posters would try to learn a foreign language before travelling to another non-English predominant country or would they rather the host country learn English to benefit the tourist from the United States.

trucutu,

People such as Rick Santorum and his minions truly puzzle me. The US goes about seizing lands through unjust and illegal wars, then the uninformed citizenry wants to bitch and moan about the problems that come along with their piracy. The US seized most of the southwest (including California) from Mexico during the illegal Mexican American War, then the US seized Puerto Rico from Spain as part of the economic spoils of the Spanish American War, but now the Great White GOP Citizens want to act all bent out of shape because the people in these stolen lands don't speak English as their first language, and most certainly don't want to speak English as their only language.

While in the military, I served with some men and women from Puerto Rico, and I had occasion to visit there with a few of them. They came from poor families, so I saw more of Puerto Rico than the tourist glitz. The Puerto Ricans that I got to know were a proud and beautiful people with a grave dignity that I've never found anywhere else. They all spoke English to me and in my presence, though I did the best I could with my couple years of high school Spanish.

Lune