Norman Ravitch *62

6 Years Ago

I am glad to see scientists...

I am glad to see scientists and other competent people taking a strong interest in the plight of Puerto Rico. The real story about Puerto Rico has not been told. It is a third-world country which gains very little from its legal position as part of the United States -- except in the ability of its people, American citizens, to leave the forsaken island for Florida or New York for a real American life. America has had Puerto Rico for about 120 years; it would perhaps have been better treated by a Spanish government interested in showing it could rule a colony in a decent manner, even though all the other Spanish colonies, save for a tiny one in North Africa, were happy to break with Spanish rule.

We deplore what the hurricane did to Puerto Rico but had the Island been properly ruled for a century, the damage might have been like that of the American states on the Gulf.

Join the conversation

Plain text

No HTML tags allowed.

Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.