“Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
Words to live by.
Let me start by stating that I have never lived in Puerto Rico. Everything I have heard from other military members is that the way things are done on Puerto Rico is very similar to how they are/were (it has been nearly 30 years since I lived there) done on Guam. Both being US territories with high welfare rates I believe this. On Guam the governor would run on a campaign of using federal highway funds to repave his supporters driveways. President Regan once visited the island and the Governor did talk to him about getting more interstate highway money. The next day the newspaper was full of articles criticizing the President because, what right was it of his to ask what was being done with the current money, since the island didn't have any interstate highways to begin with. The amount of corruption was staggering. The public utilities were all run by friends/family of the current governor and would change along with the administration. If you weren't paid up for over 30 days in advance your service was cut off. If Puerto Rico is the same way I would be more shocked if this wasn't happening than I am that it might be.
How's anyone gonna withhold supplies? Didn't Trump toss those paper towels far enough back for everyone?
When I was in Guam (early to mid 80s) the people of the island voted every election on if they should apply for statehood (despite not meeting the population requirements of a state). The votes were something like 90% voted No. There are just to many benefits of not being a state, such as an exemption from paying federal taxes, yet able to receive federal money.
The USA is also, under UN treaty, not allowed to cast them off as independent nations without the people there voting for it (not that we would Guam with the valuable military base location that it is).