I’m proud of America, while it is never perfect is has a strong culture constantly moving to be better. The ideal of Democracy in America while one of our greatest values did not start perfectly. Originally revered for an elite class it has taken much striving to get it closer to one person one vote. Sadly were still not there….
Our House of Representatives is supposed to represent all Americans but it simply does not. If you are an American who happens to live in a territory such as Puerto Rico you are “represented” by a single non-voting Representative. And there a more Amercian Citizens living in Puerto Rico than the following states.
- Iowa: 4 Fully voting Representatives
- Utah: 4 Fully voting Representatives
- Mississippi: 4 Fully voting Representatives
- Arkansas: 4 Fully voting Representatives
- Kansas: 4 Fully voting Representatives
- Nevada: 4 Fully voting Representatives
- New Mexico: 3 Fully voting Representatives
- Nebraska: 3 Fully voting Representatives
- West Virginia: 3 Fully voting Representatives
- Idaho: 2 Fully voting Representatives
- Hawaii: 2 Fully voting Representatives
- New Hampshire: 2 Fully voting Representatives
- Maine: 2 Fully voting Representatives
- Rhode Island: 2 Fully voting Representatives
- Montana: 1 Fully voting Representative
- Delaware: 1 Fully voting Representative
- South Dakota: 1 Fully voting Representative
- North Dakota: 1 Fully voting Representative
- Alaska: 1 Fully voting Representative
- Vermont: 1 Fully voting Representative
- Wyoming: 1 Fully voting Representative
Americans in Puerto Rico still have no voting member in the House of Representatives, oh and when it come to the President they have zero Electoral College votes. Yep these 3,675,778 American citizens have zero votes in Congress and no voice in electing their president. Any American simply moving to Puerto Rico loses their voice, no questions asked or answers given. This is simply wrong…
Past attempts to get voting representation for Puerto Rico has failed, I think a new approach makes sense. If we can’t do the right thing and allow these citizens to participate in our democracy we can at least make it more equitable. Lets create a constitutional amendment where the states with fewer citizens than Puerto Rico simply have their representation changed. So in the House of Representatives each of the above 21 states would now have one “non-voting” representative. They’d keep their two senators for being states. Oh and reduce their electrical college votes to 2. Still leaves the Citizens in Puerto Rico a muted voice but it would give us a bit closer to one American One vote….
Who’s with me?
A Madman Has Spoken….