[speaker001:] yes um I was wondering whether you were in favor of statehood independence or the status quo for Puerto Rico
[speaker002:] I was a resident although very young of the state of what is now the state of Alaska in nineteen fifty nine when Alaska stopped being a territory became a state uh so I guess I have a left over positive feeling about the question even though I don't know very much about Puerto Rico um I know that all the things that happened relative to that territory in Alaska have been very positive uh and I kind have a suspicion that that I believe that a that statehood is a good idea whenever you have a territory the size of Puerto Rico one ought either to make it a full-fledged state or or let it go one or the other what is your situation
[speaker001:] well I'm I guess I don't have such such close experience with with um an area becoming a state as you do um my concern is the economy because as I understand it Puerto Rico has a very low standard uh standard of living or at least um annual average income um part of this I suppose is justified in in in that the climate they don't need perhaps the heating and the housing that some of the the more northern territories need however in that case I guess I would favor status quo I have been to Puerto Rico and and found it very very interesting I did Peace Corps training there
[speaker002:] oh that's very interesting
[speaker001:] and so um you know I saw it also as a young student and and it was very foreign in a certain sense although I had grown up in California and so the Spanish was no problem um it was it was you know very lovely and and the people seemed very friendly and and nice I have actually I work with uh a girl from Puerto Rico and I guess I have never thought to ask her which she favors uh
[speaker002:] your concern on the economies was one in terms of if it became a state would that put even more pressures on on Puerto Rico or pressures on the US in terms of aid or
[speaker001:] well probably more on in terms of the US um you know I'm I'm not quite sure how the US copes with this sort of thing I've lived abrode abroad most of my life so I guess I I've been very cut off uh I lived actually in Lebanon so I was very cut off from the the press as I was you know and uh becoming was becoming an adult so I don't know how the US would cope with it a
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] new state that is so very very poor
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] um I guess you know we'd have a lot of aid if if you consider the inner cities of like New York and and how much aid it needs I suppose the whole country or the whole um new state would require such aid
[speaker002:] I guess um we're assuming that that Puerto Rico would be per capita significantly more poor perhaps than than say Mississippi or
[speaker001:] I think so
[speaker002:] okay that's something that that I guess I have not much of an image of other than than Puerto Rico as a tropical island and consequently large numbers of barefoot natives or something uh not in a pejorative sense but in a in a carefree sense I guess although I'm aware of the political problems and unrest and and and also difficulties they have
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] um I don't know whether state would statehood would improve their economy I don't I don't know that the very the act of being a state would would have any impact on on them uh I guess they would have the ability to do some taxing that they don't have now but of course if their economy is weak that there is not much of a base on which to tax I don't know if they suffer in a sense of income loss as being since they aren't a state whether there are monies that escape them so to speak because they aren't able to tax like a typical state would be how do you feel though about well I guess it's to their advantage to be a territory but uh I wonder how having having been in a territory but only as a young student and my parents were in the military at the time so they didn't have ready negative feelings about being in the states in the Alaska at the time since they they voted absentee I I would imagine that it must be a little bit of a second feeling of second class citizenry uh to be in a territory that large and not being able to vote the District of Columbia people for instance are quite frustrated I think at times in their not having a Senate representative
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah those those are good points um which obviously I'd never thought about um I don't know what uh I suppose they also not being a state are probably freer to determine their own um ways of life than they would if if I I'm trying to think exactly what is imposed if they would become a state versus a territory
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] perhaps compulsory education
[speaker002:] uh I see what you mean so that
[speaker001:] um and taxes
[speaker002:] yeah taxes would undoubtedly be occurring uh there I don't know I I don't even understand exactly how taxes are handled in a territorial situation um frequently the laws in a territory are are in some ways as stringent as they are in other states I uh and I'm thinking in terms of education but then again each state sets its own and I don't know how a territorial governor takes care of something like Puerto Rico um it's interesting because I hadn't thought of them in terms of the problems relative to uh economy uh I had thought of it more in terms of political uh realization and I guess I had automatically made the assumption that gee anyone would rather be a state of the US than an independent country
[speaker001:] um-hum well well actually I think one one thing that I remember hearing in the news the past couple weeks that might be significant is that
[speaker002:] so
[speaker001:] they've recently voted that Spanish is the official language which I always assumed it was anyway
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] so if they've just taken such action it would seem to indicate to me either they're doing it because they're afraid they might become a state and want to declare this before they become a state or maybe because they don't want to become a state for fear of losing the Spanish or Hispanic heritage
[speaker002:] uh-huh that's interesting well it sounds as though you are in favor of uh status quo
[speaker001:] I I believe I would probably tend towards that
[speaker002:] and I think uh having listened to you relative to the economy thing I think if I were being forced to make a decision I would plead ignorance and wait to do more research before picking one of these so I'm ultimately I guess I'm ultimately in favor of status quo also
[speaker001:] well that's interesting
[speaker002:] at this point leaning towards uh statehood
[speaker001:] right what about if if um they demanded to have Spanish as the official language as a condition for statehood
[speaker002:] I think I would be troubled I suspect I believe that any of our states and I I constitutionally I don't think there are any prescriptions about against that decision even if uh Louisiana chose to go with Creole or something um I don't think there is any prohibitions I would be bothered by that I'm I'm bothered by any tendency to resist what I think was one of America's strengths and that's the the the melting pot uh I I
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] am particularly fond of a number of ethnic cuisines but I'm troubled by too close a clinging to to the the past and I'm also realizing that that a common language I think is the ultimate bond of a country
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] and Canada I guess comes to my mind as they're going through the throes up there relative to French Quebec and whatever uh that I I think that would be a a negative step to make and I think that that they would need to reassess that um I'm troubled even in by bilingualism uh in so far as t hat it intrudes it gets in the way of of of the melting pot aspect
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum that's interesting because although I tend to be bilingual Spanish based on experience uh I was in bilingual education in California and I didn't have any problem with my students but I noticed my my brother who who was uh quite a bit younger was learning Spanish in elementar y school and he can't speak a word
[speaker002:] hum
[speaker001:] and so obviously it didn't work in California
[speaker002:] yeah but I'm rather in favor of people being bilingual and I'd be quite happy to see a national law in which every student was required to learn English and a second language
[speaker001:] right right
[speaker002:] but I'm I'm disturbed by a country that attempts to be functionally bilingual at the official level
[speaker001:] oh I see
[speaker002:] um I'm I'm concerned about whether or not that causes fractiousness I guess
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] well I think we have gone to time and I appreciate your having called
[speaker001:] okay okay well thank you very much
[speaker002:] good-bye
[speaker001:] bye-bye