Until now, when their country is in the tank, Puerto Rico didn't want to be a state. Now that they're so far underwater economically, they want to join the Union so that we can bail them out. It's clear to me that their governing body is useless and unless they elect more responsible people to run their government, they will be nothing more than a parasite. The Island used to be a fantastic tourist destination, but they screwed that up.
I would like to see them become a state, yes. If they were part of America, perhaps they would be more able to elect competent leaders. But they are going to need to have a referendum with more than 23% turnout. It seems to me like a majority of the population still does not want statehood.
They are probably suffering from the same indifference we are in the U.S. The turnout for this last election was very poor. Too many people stay away from the polls because they don't think their vote for either candidate will make much of a difference. To some extent, that is true. The people who would be the best candidates to run this country are those who have little to no ability to gin up enough campaign funds to make themselves known. The only way we will ever get fair and honest elections is to enact campaign finance reform so that everyone who wants to run has the same amount of money to use in whatever way they see fit and we need to keep corporations out of it.
Not to mention, I knew that no matter who I voted for, California's electoral votes would go to Hillary. I can see why some people may avoid voting when they know how their state will lean.
Benedict Arnold 