National Politics and the Road to Equality

By Phillip Arroyo, President of the Young Democrats Association of America- Puerto Rico Chapter


Last week, The Young Republican Federation of America held their 2011 National Convention right here in the crossroads of the caribbean San Juan, Puerto Rico. As a young Puerto Rican - American I must say that I was pleased when I first learned that hundreds of young people from across our nation would be visiting our island, where they would enjoy our beaches, learn our culture, and stimulate our economy.

A day after the convention concluded, As Chairman of the PR Young Democrats, I publicly denounced and expressed how dismayed I was with the Republican Party for having turned their backs on the Puerto Rican people when they opposed the PR Democracy Act H.R. 2499 when it came down for a final vote last year. The bill would have facilitated a self determination process for the four million American citizens of the island. I also expressed the need for the drastic cuts to the Pell grant by the current Republican Congress to be reverted and support for comprehensive Immigration Reform be supported.

Now, I know many may be asking yourselves, wait a minute...Didn’t he just say that he was pleased with the Young Republicans convention taking place on the island? Of course I was; although the chairman of the Young Republicans, Mr. Daniel Ballori and I have very strong political differences at the national level where we have in more than one occasion clashed heads, we do have one common belief that unites us unconditionally..... political Equality.

This brings me to the main topic of this article; which is the importance of Puerto Ricans participating in the national political process. Although, we cannot vote for President of the United States and our sole member of Congress cannot vote on the floor of the US House of Representatives, it is my strong belief that our island's political status dilemma solution rests with increasing political activism within both the Republican and Democratic parties, lobbying issues that are of true importance to our constituents congruent with the respective national parties’ stances and courting Republican and Democratic candidates; only then will those of us who believe in a permanent relationship with the United States will be acting as what we truly are, an integral part of the United States of America.

How many times have we all been confronted with the following question from a fellow friend from the mainland United States: " So, are Republicans or Democrats a majority on the island?" The usual answer from us is, " Um..Well.... In Puerto Rico the political parties are not divided between Republicans and Democrats, it's complicated. Sit down , let me explain.." This will commonly open up to a long and thorough PR history and politics 101 briefing that usually causes more confusion than clarity to the curious person who asked.

Frankly, there should never be any consfusion in anybody's mind, much less any difficulty in explaining the political ambiensce on the island.

In Puerto Rico, the two major political parties are divided between the "New Progressive Party" which advocates for the island to become the 51st state of the union and the "Popular Democratic Party" which advocates for the continuation of the current territorial political status of Puerto Rico. Now, within the "statehood" party there Democrats and Republicans, whereas within the PDP, a significant majority identifies themselves with the Democratic Party.

Notable democratic figures within the statehood movement are Pedro Rossello former Governor of PR (1992-2000), current Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock and current Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi.

Current Governor Luis Fortuño, current Senate President Tomas Rivera Shatz and current House Speaker Jenniffer Gonzalez are all members of the Republican Party. On the PDP side, former Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila, current Senator Eduardo Bhatia and PR Democratic Party Chairman Roberto Prats are democrats. The sole issue that separates NPP and PDP democrats is the century long status debate; yep, you heard correctly, only one issue!

This political reality on the island has created severe divisiveness among the people of Puerto Rico, soley generated by that one issue, which has caused many people to complain that leaders of both the NPP and PDP concentrate too much on the PR political status issue and do not attend to the issues and problems that affect our quality of life. Issues like crime, health, the economy, education, etc. don’t seem to be as important as Puerto Rico’s colonial dilemma. As a statehooder, I am of those that is convinced that the vast majority, if not all political, social and economic problems of PR share one common denominator : Estado Libre Asociado; the current territorial and colonial relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico.

Nonetheless, the common problems that face the American citizens of Puerto Rico do not discriminate in regards to being a statehooder or a pro territory follower. We all have to put up with elevated crime, poor education, limited employment opportunities and a mediocre healthcare system regardless of who or what party is in power. As I always like to say, "There is only so much you can do under the current status quo".

Puerto Rico’s status resolution will be solved when the people of the island begin to participate in the national political process through the Democratic and Republican parties in genuine fashion and in accordance with the liberal or conservative agenda. This way, we will not only be generating a sense of inclusion of the people in the national debate, but we will also generate a true interest of the national parties in courting candidates on the island and expanding their powers. Congressional distribution is based on population, therefore, the island would have the right to at least five (5) members of Congress and two (2) U.S. senators. That’s more than close to twenty five (25) states! This may explain why the Democratic Party consistently supports self determination bills for the island as evidenced in 1998 (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1998/roll037.xml) and 2010 (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll242.xml).

To reinforce my argument it is important to see the history of the political parties in Hawaii and Alaska before entering the union as the 49th and 50th state respectively. The Republican and Democratic parties were the two (2) major parties of the territories of Hawaii and Alaska prior to entering the union. This fact shoots down the theories of those who say "national politics is not important until we become a state" or " la politica de alla, es la de alla y la de aqui es la de aqui".

As a matter of fact, the premier political parties of the U.S. territories of Guam and Virgin islands are the Republican and Democratic parties. None of the before mentioned territories possess a strong statehood movement. Only in Puerto Rico is where resistance to participate in the national political process so apparent even among many in the pro statehood party. Unless this changes, I fear we will continue to wrestle with the political status dilemma for another century and the people will continue to divide, only adding to the island’s already precarious social and political state. In a nutshell, the pro territory democrats will have to explain their contradiction of being democrats, but at the same time opposing the presidential vote and pro statehood democrats will have to start participating more at the national level like Hawaii and Alaska did as a mechanism of entering the union.

-Phillip Arroyo is a 29 year old Democrat. Hailing proudly from the island of enchantment Puerto Rico, USA. He is President of the Young Democrats of America Puerto Rico Chapter. Mr. Arroyo is on record at the United Nations in New York having testified in favor of the decolonization of Puerto Rico and has lobbied in Congress for the same purpose. On February 25th, 2009 he was appointed by the Governor of Puerto Rico to serve as a member of the Executive Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Committee. He is a Law School Student at Catholic University of Puerto Rico.