| The Nova: Going to the Source |
It's a good start for Saudi Arabia, but they still have a long way to go.
Darkstrait :ninja:
Former Justice, Former Local Councilor, Roleplayer, Former SPSF Deputy for Recruitment, Politically Active Citizen, Ex-Spammer Supreme, and Resident Geek "Hats is very fashion this year." World Editorial Issue #1 March 18, 2016 My critiques against both Puerto Rico's Government and the American Government By Ryccia Puerto Rico, United States of America- This is my critique against Puerto Rico and the United States. In this, I will try to highlight the problems of Puerto Rico, and how it is the Government's fault, be it Puerto Rican or American. 1. Population becoming older and Poverty Of course, developed nations or colonies of developed nations age, and its no surprise. The world is aging, be it the oppressive regimes of China and Russia in the East, or Western nations like the Europeans, or Japan(which is Western by alliance, but Eastern by culture). However, in Puerto Rico, it is not just because of a falling birth rate. It is because people are leaving. In their thousands, every year. Why is this? The educated professionals and the younger generations are the ones mostly leaving, not the farmers like in the '60s, because of higher salaries in the US, and lower living standards in Puerto Rico. You see, Puerto Rico is poorer than the US Mainland. And local businesses don't prosper here anymore. So if you are an American complaining about your poverty, give yourself a pat on the back! At least you are not Puerto Rican poor! The economy is stagnant, and education spending is falling. Almost half of the entire population lives in poverty and/or extreme poverty, and on food stamps. Crime is high. So, are there incentives for these professionals and young people to stay? Surely not. Who's at fault? I can point the finger at past and present Puerto Rican administrations, Puerto Rican Political Parties and Scenarios, who were(and still are) as corrupt as hell, to American and other bonistas(the creditors who bought Puerto Rican Bonds) who don't want to collaborate, and to the US Government itself. First, why the Puerto Rican Government and Political Parties? Well, the government has favoured foreign business over local business and still do, since foreign businesses don't get taxed a lot, if at all, meanwhile local businesses bear the burden of normal tax rates. The government was also corrupt, and sold bonds irresponsibly. Wages have not gone up, but TAXES have. And what's more depressing is that government procedures are politicized. The AEE(the one who produces the energy for Ryccia's portal for the World, aka Electricity for the Internet) and the AAA(the one who produces your daily water out of the faucet) are in crisis, and have threatened to rise prices HIGHER than what they are if the government does not pass a bill to restructure them. And the bill is already high. And who gets hurt by all of this, all of this political power play? Your average Puerto Rican. In fact the crisis has affected us so much that we make parodies and satirize the economic crisis. Especially the taxes and the governor. And also there's your usual meme. It has become a part of our modern culture even, or so I think. And why political parties? Well, they are also corrupt and take advantage of the people's angers with the government. All I hear from the PNP candidates is "Change Change Change!", but no actual concrete proposals. We will maybe have a political dynasty now like you, America, as Pedro Rosello's son, Ricky Rosello, is running! With no actual political experience, being like all the other candidates: a political parasite. He is just popular because he's the son of a successful governor, and because he's young and handsome. And did you that his campaign has been already marred by accusations of corruption and/or shady funding? These parties, when being the minority, always feed off the people's current angers with the government. And if the mayority party can do so, they will make the people remember their past grievances with the other party when it was in power. All while making life a miserable den of hell, benefiting their political and economic friends with corruption(or like we say here, los panas, which means the friends in literal Spanish Puerto Rican context), and not actually bringing change. AT ALL. These two parties have become so involved in our society that its now part of our culture. In government jobs, people who are from the ruling party try to expel those who are from the party's archnemesis when the chance arises. This 4-year term, it has been the PPD ruling majority vs. PNP minority. My mother is PNP. So, Im sometimes worried about that. Furthermore, some people now make friends with people from their own party, or at least take political parties as a consideration. My mother was disgusted at the prospect that one of her friends is a PIP supporter. I would give a shrug. Our island is being divided into political tribes. Why must this happen? That's why I favour small parties. Hell, even PIP, the pro-independence party here, seems like a great party compared to these two decadent sh*ts. I agree with most of their proposals, as they are centre-left/left and mostly social democrats. Their party flag is a green version of the Nordic flag, btw. Don't get me wrong, these parties were great in the past, or so I've heard. But, like South Africa's ANC and the US's Republicans and Democrats, they become hypocrites over time. Why the bonistas? I do believe that the bonistas should get paid. However, we can't just pay 'em and have our people starve. That's your average businessman in developing to developed but sh*t poor countries. They don't want to negotiate, at least a large amount of them don't want to. We need a concrete, stable plan to pay. Not send a fiscal control junta straight from the USA, but I'll talk about that later. First, we need to wipe out corruption. Meanwhile, we pay our debts. And there is money. Sure, there's no money for education or healthcare, but there is money for the Spanish Royals, or for a $1 million ice rink in a town I can't remember, or for millionaire contracts that are shady and almost no one knows about. There is money for PPD municipalities, but not for PNP municipalities(should have said this in the other section). I can't blame them for being so angry to get their money back. But it is us, not the majority of the government bureaucrats and officials, at risk. Austerity measures are hurting the people, and its not going to get any better for your average Joe. That is why we need a fair and just negotiation. Or else, no money for you, you (mostly) conscience-less greedhogs. And why the USA?('Murica) Congress does not deal with our colonial situation, or our situation in general, and impose unfair laws that are a burden to our economy. Like the ley del cabotaje, which prevents us from trading with ships that are not American. And when have I've heard such thing before in history? Oh, was it that the 13 Colonies could only trade with BRITISH SHIPS before independence? Is it some kind of coincidence, or pure, sweet irony? We receive less federal funding than the States in healthcare because of our status, and when we voted on statehood, Congress was like "meh" and went on to other matters. Now, I know that America is a big country to manage, with 50 different states and it is one of the largest and most powerful nations in the entire world, but surely you can dedicate some thoughtful time to us, instead of approving a fiscal control junta, effectively losing our political independence on economic policy? Even if we are US Territory, surely a country such as the USA could reason with proper procedure and help us the disadvantaged US Territories like Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam(which has provided 1/8 of its entire population to the military and a lot of its land as well to the Armed Forces), the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa(which their residents are US Nationals, NOT US Citizens), among others? Or are we just too irrelevant to our stepfather country and to the world to make you care? Does someone have to scream or point out our situation, just to get noticed? What's wrong with you, America? There is no doubt that American rule has benefited us greatly. No doubt. Yet, in the past, you treated us badly, and, although not as bad as before[an American Governor in 1937 ordered the Massacre of Ponce, just because of a peaceful independentista parade commemorating the abolition of slavery and they were protesting the imprisonment of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party leader, Pedro Albizu Campos(who was an idiot terrorist, but still). About 21 people died, 235 were injured, and, to this day, no one has been charged with anything. Not even those who confessed. Its a massacre that went unpunished, and its memory is slowly fading], we are still treated unfairly. We officially have self-rule, but, de facto, we are still a colony. The US can theoretically crush any Puerto Rican Law, good thing they have not done so all the time. We give you soldiers, in the early days, our women worked in la industria de la aguja(which means "weaving industry" or something like that) so that the US could have clothes in a World War(commerce is not necessarily good in a World War). By capita, more Puerto Rican soldiers died than American soldiers in the Vietnam War(heck, one of my teachers who was in the military said that 56 soldiers of the 66-strong division he was in went to fight the Vietnam War. Of those 56, only 6 came back. Another teacher in my school is an Iraq War or Gulf War Veteran, either one). Yet, we are still treated unfairly. Just like other US Territories. 2. Education spending is falling, and its only getting worse There has been a rampant spree of closing of schools and defunding of universities because of the crisis, and its not going to get any better. There is a shortage of teachers, and now, there is talk that, under a new "reform" bill, some schools will be privatized, although the government denies this. How can you privatize a human right? Who's at fault? The Government and the crisis. Sure, the Government is trying to find money hasta debajo de las piedras(which literally means "even from below the rocks", which is an expression when you are so poor you are literally trying to find money from anywhere), but it shouldn't be at the expense of our people's education! Im in a private school(because public ones are so bad they are a last resource and we can't go out anyway because of something I will not tell you), but just because Im in a private one does not mean that I don't care. Education should be for all, and the education should be of upmost quality(invest in our future!). Im just a child now so I do not know about the costs of a Puerto Rican University, but I've heard that it costs. Sometimes(or most of the time), a lot. And that puts stress into me if I do not get to study abroad(which I want to do). I do not know the details yet, but the date is coming ever closer. And cuts to an already-enbattled university program is not going to attract pupils. And do you know the children with disabilities or those who are falling behind? You know that they get special education and/or tutorials so they can get better grades? Well guess what: this part of the education industry is so defunded by the government that some workers have not been paid for months, and/or the companies co-running this with the government have now been investigated for....wait for it.....corruption! Some teachers have even been arrested for this. One of the ways they did this was by listing children who did not exist, and classes that never took place. They get paid for that. These children have been suffering the most out of this, and its horrifying that it is the ones with disabilities or pupils falling behind. Why should this happen to us? Why should our people suffer without an education? Final Notes from the Author I may or may not be right. After all, I am just a 14-year old writing a political editorial. My, and many others' anger at the government is inmense. Even if I was wrong on something, the central part of this editorial is my anger and criticism of both Puerto Rico and the USA. To America: I still love you, even if you are messed up. Even if you treat us unfairly, Im sure that things will get better. They got better from the first half of the 20th Century to now. And, as the time progresses, I have hope. The Nova does not necessarily share the views of this editorial and/or writer
Deputy Regional Minister of the Planning and Development Agency(March 8-May 19, 2014)
Local Council Member(April 24-August 11) Court Justice of TSP(August 15-December 7)
Any comments?
Deputy Regional Minister of the Planning and Development Agency(March 8-May 19, 2014)
Local Council Member(April 24-August 11) Court Justice of TSP(August 15-December 7)
Very biased but ok.
I am Zadiner/Zak. Part of Assembly, some other stuff, Founder of some other region.
Hey, I have a bunch of issues. You don't need to care. Emoji of the week: :dodgy:
It's an editorial, of course it's going to have at least a little bias trickling in. Very well done Ryccia.
Darkstrait :ninja:
Former Justice, Former Local Councilor, Roleplayer, Former SPSF Deputy for Recruitment, Politically Active Citizen, Ex-Spammer Supreme, and Resident Geek "Hats is very fashion this year."
I must apologize. That corruption score was Control of Corruption. And it is outdated, from 2010. But if I find out another score(that is actually updated), I'll be sure to post it.
Puerto Rico is still corrupt. And we are in the most corrupt of times. @Darkstrait: Thanks!
Deputy Regional Minister of the Planning and Development Agency(March 8-May 19, 2014)
Local Council Member(April 24-August 11) Court Justice of TSP(August 15-December 7) World Editorial Issue #2 June 11, 2017 By winning, we have been defeated: Ryccia's view on the June 11th plebiscite By Ryccia Puerto Rico, United States of America- Today was the June 11th plebiscite! And boy was this event magnificent! Statehood won with almost 98% of the votes! We won by a landslide! ...Actually, that's bizarre. Let's look a little closer. Let's start off with the turnout Turnout Hmm, turnout was at nearly 23%. That's not...good. Yes, only ~500,000 out of about 2.3 million registered voters in an archipelago of 3.5 million voted in this plebiscite. That's low. Very low. Pathetically low. I cried inside when I saw these figures. In the school my mother was serving as a volunteer, I went to three out of the four classrooms where the votes were being held. Only statehood got double or even triple digits out of the 3 options (Statehood, Free Association/Independence, and Current Status *cough* colony *cough*). One classroom that I remember got these results: -Statehood: 153 -Free Association/Independence: 2 -Current Status: 4 Total: 159 Why did this happen? Well, there was a massive boycott, coupled with voter apathy. Both the main pro-status quo and pro-independence parties (the former is one of our two big parties *grumble grumble*) boycotted this plebiscite. The first did so out of differences on ideology and one reason that will come later, and the second boycotted this after the status quo was introduced in the ballot. In the original ballot there was only Statehood and Free Association/Independence, but a certain metropoli decided that the colony should be included, when we rejected it in 2012 by 54%. The US ruled in favour of colonialism. Sound familiar? But, this plebiscite was binding, sanctioned even by the federal government! The main pro-statehood party said it was! No matter what, the result was final, untouchable! Pristine! The populares and independentistas were warned! No. Was it binding? Was it worth it? As I've said, no. Sure, they must inform the US about this vote and its result, but this was not endorsed by the Justice Department, and I'd doubt a Republican-controlled Congress would let a broke latino territory with shaky proof of the voice of the people as a state. And worse, Trump's at the helm too. What a pity. Even the BBC called it "non-binding". What a waste of public money. Yes, in the very dire state we're in, the government spent a few millions on this disastrous vote. But they can't afford an honest audit, in hopes that some of those billions of dollars of debt were illegal and cancelled? Or help tackle the debt directly if you hate audits, even if millions of dollars is miniscule to our $70 billion debt? Invest in cash-strapped areas? Balance the budget a lil' bit? No. They knew this was going to fail. They knew this will not be accepted by even the most foolish and naive in D.C. And still, they spent. Arranging a botched and obviously aesthetic event, just to gain a few political points with their diehard supporters. Sound familiar? And now, they'll spend millions more of public money to go to Washington, in order to lobby for statehood (sound familiar?). Now, don't get me wrong. I want statehood as much as they do. I want equality for 3.5 million American citizens, not being able to go to Capitol Hill and have a say in how the nation is governed. In fact, some of us are even more patriotic than the Americans themselves. But this is not the way. It is clear to me that the PNP is just a corrupt gang of political elite thieves, deceiving honest-to-goodness statehooders for their benefit. Is it worth sacrifing our people in order to achieve something we might not even get? We cannot afford this. I wish we could send delegates to lobby for our rights, but there are way more important things right now. How about corruption, nepotism and cronyism? How about our life-or-death financial crisis? How about our social degradation? How about poverty and double-digit unemployment? These are issues far more pressing than to spend millions on ideology. Like Mao Zedong (sorry for quoting him) said, in the Japanese invasion: "We can't even discuss communism if we don't have a country on which to practice it". I would say in this situation: "We can't even discuss statehood if we don't have a land on which to survive". We shouldn't celebrate But the PNP has. They are currently celebrating as I write now a farse that wasted millions that we didn't have. I am all for statehood, but I want the main pro-statehood party to die. Because they're not realistic. This is not realistic. This is lunacy. Celebrating something so shaky you cannot defend it with reason, facts or even accessible mathematical calculations is going insane. It's grasping at the very last straw, being childish and saying with no credible reason "MINE!". It is time to snap out of this fantasy, and do things right. Despite probably having the best of intentions, this is not the statehood I want. We must have the people's true voice, be representatives of the public, of 3.5 million American citizens wishing equality in this colony, who are not heard. Honest warriors, vanguard of our liberty. But, no. They wish to be delegates of themselves. Of the diehard supporters they must please. Not of the Puerto Rican people. They didn't even care about their fellow citizens voting, basically echoing a feeling of "I'm better", "More for us", or even "Good riddance" against their fellow kin. These parties and politics have divided some of us into tribes solely based on politics and hating the other. Jobs in the public sector are sometimes even given based on how much you have contributed to and how loyal you are to the party in power, not because of merit or whatever. In fact, the ruling pro-statehood party has had a few problems with some of its supporters who worked for them in 2016 campaigns, disgruntled on how they are not able to get a job in the public sector or get rid of X or Y person at work because he's from the other party. Instead of looking at the bigger picture, even the most noble of causes can rot from the inside. Thanks to our greed and impatience. Rather than doing that, we should hoist our banner and clean up our act. I don't want a job from the party personally. I want to fulfill what I believe is the best course for our people. We are at risk of dividing ourselves into political tribes. Our dignity as a people has been shattered. What else will we lose in the long-run? Our identity? It is very unprobable that we will divide each other so much we'll be actual tribes, considering that we are Puerto Ricans at core, but how much we hate the other from the other side of the political spectrum is so vivid, so alive, that it makes me want to cry and just leave for Alaska, where I can be the farthest away from this broken home. And that is why, by winning, we have been defeated. The Nova does not necessarily share the views of this editorial and/or writer
Deputy Regional Minister of the Planning and Development Agency(March 8-May 19, 2014)
Local Council Member(April 24-August 11) Court Justice of TSP(August 15-December 7) |
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