Kansas’ Eisenhower and Dole had it right: GOP should want Puerto Rico to be a state
Statehood is never a given for a U.S. territory. For the Kansas Territory, slavery was the lightning rod issue that imperiled and delayed its admission into the Union. Nonetheless, for six long years, Kansans persevered, despite bitter internal disputes between pro-slavery and abolitionist factions to secure statehood in the prelude to the Civil War. If Kansans could achieve statehood under those conditions, Puerto Ricans can certainly get it done now.
This past Nov. 3, the people of Puerto Rico faced a simple yes or no vote on statehood, and a clear majority (53%) voted to make the islands the 51st state. Although Puerto Rico faces a long road to statehood, it will not compare to the resolve that the residents of the Kansas Territory had to display during their own admission process.
However, while Puerto Rico statehood should be a nonpartisan issue with broad support in Congress, petty partisan politics stand in the way. Some conservative leaders needlessly fear that the islands would be a solidly blue state that would hand the Democrats two U.S. Senate seats for perpetuity. They shouldn’t be so afraid.
Republicans have recently held prominent offices in Puerto Rico, including two governors, two state House speakers and two state Senate presidencies, among dozens of mayors and legislators. Furthermore, the chairwoman of the Puerto Rico Republican Party, the islands’ lone, non-voting representative in Congress, was Puerto Rico’s top vote-getter in the 2020 election.
The Republican Party has a proud tradition of support for Puerto Rican statehood, including from multiple GOP presidents: Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and one of Kansas’ most beloved sons, Dwight D. Eisenhower. The 2016 GOP platform supported Puerto Rico statehood, as has every other one going back to 1940. In 1987, Kansas political giant Bob Dole introduced a bill in the Senate calling for Puerto Ricans to vote on adding one more star to the American flag.
The historic Republican consensus for Puerto Rico statehood stems from the notion that it is the right thing to do. Puerto Ricans have been American citizens for more than 100 years. Thousands of Puerto Ricans are veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces and have served in every major conflict during the last century. And yet, those proud veterans who reside in Puerto Rico cannot vote for president and are taxed without proper representation in Congress. They are discriminated against by virtue of residing in the islands. Residents of Puerto Rico are denied full funding for Medicare, Medicare, SNAP and Supplemental Security Income.
The contributions of Puerto Ricans to the nation and their pride as U.S. citizens make them worthy and deserving of the equal treatment they seek. It is time for residents of Puerto Rico to have equal representation in Congress and to be able to vote for their commander in chief every four years. Providing these disenfranchised U.S. citizens with the same rights and responsibilities of the millions of Americans who live on the mainland is long overdue.
Supporting equal treatment for the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico is neither a Republican nor a Democratic issue — it’s an American issue. That is why the support of our fellow citizens on the mainland will be crucial in order to ensure that Puerto Rico’s statehood mandate is respected.
It’s certainly time to respect the will of the people of Puerto Rico. As the Republican Party has historically recognized, statehood is a logical aspiration for these proud U.S. citizens. Let’s make it happen.
Carlos Flores, a graduate of Kansas State University, is public policy director of the Puerto Rico Young Republican Federation and a writer for the nonprofit Puerto Rico Star Project.
This story was originally published January 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Kansas’ Eisenhower and Dole had it right: GOP should want Puerto Rico to be a state."