The Seventh Party System: Part LVII
Map of the United States
Part I - Metropotamia
Part II - Alta California
Part III - North Carolina
Part IV - New Jersey
Part V - Adams
Part VI - Alabama
Part VII - Rhode Island
Part VIII - Sequoyah
Part IX - Assenisipia
Part X - East Florida
Part XI - Tennessee
Part XII - Kansas
Part XIII - Dakota
Part XIV - Arizona
Part XV - Delaware
Part XVI - Oregon
Part XVII - Ozark
Part XVIII - New Hampshire
Part XIX - Western Connecticut
Part XX - New York
Part XXI - Santo Domingo
Part XXII - South Carolina
Part XXIII - Baja California
Part XXIV - Chersonesus
Part XXV - Canal Zone Territory
Part XXVI - West Florida
Part XXVII - Missouri
Part XXVIII - Colorado
Part XXIX - Trinidad and Tobago
Part XXX - Pennsylvania
Part XXXI - Wisconsin
Part XXXII - Lincoln
Part XXXIII - Deseret
Part XXXIV - Platte
Part XXXV - Kiribati
Part XXXVI - New Mexico
Part XXXVII - Maine
Part XXXVIII - Alaska
Part XXXIX - Hamilton
Part XXXX - Mississippi
Part XXXXI - North Virginia
Part XXXXII - Bioko
Part XXXXIII - Hawaii
Part XXXXIV - Louisiana
Part XXXXV - Seward
Part XXXXVI - Illinoia
Part XXXXVII - Georgia
Part XXXXVIII - Columbia
Part XXXXIX - Maryland
Part L - Texas
Part LI - District of Columbia
Part LII - Vermont
Part LIII - Yazoo
Part LIV - Jefferson
Part LV - Virgin Islands
Part LVI - Washington
Puerto Rico is an interesting state that typically leans further left than most Hispanic states, but then everything changed when Hurricanes Airam and Amri hit.
Gained during the Spanish-American war while the island was conquered all the way back in 1895 they were not admitted as a state until 1957, with Congress fearful that the Puerto Rican people might rise up and establish their own independent nation, similar to what had occurred just last year with the death of American-backed dictator Tacho Somoza. From the very start this state leaned further right than many others, with a large anti-communist bent caused by its sizable population of Colombian emigres who had fled Gran Colombia once General Secretary Ernesto Guevara began the process of de-haciendacion in 1952.
However as the communist superpower of Gran Colombia began to become more and more accepted among the common American people and the Labor government of the 1990s signing a historic limited trade deal with the Union de Republicas Socialistes de America Latina the level of anti-communism began to subside and the progressive party began to make inroads into the Puerto Rican political sphere. Nevertheless, it wasn't until the start of the Great Depression and the historic left-ward shift in the election of 2010 that the Progresistas managed to seize power, and only in coalition with the Greens and Partido Revolucionario.
In 2014 the Partido Renovacion managed to take back the government, though they too had to rely on outside support from the Greens. This Renovacion-Verdes coalition continued into 2016, as while the Partido Renovacion received enough seats to rule on its own in 2016, by allying themselves with the Greens they had a two-thirds majority, allowing them to pass sweeping reforms to the very state constitution of Puerto Rico.
Termed as the "Cambiemos" reforms these massive changes included five major measures. The first of the measures which Renovacion passed was a massive reform to the state's pension system, completely eliminating all state pensions in favor of private 401k and IRAs, a reform which Partido Renovacion touted as moving the pension system "into the 21st century." The second measure was a consolidation of the state's unemployment insurance, disability insurance, food stamps, healthcare assistance, farmer assistance, child tax credit, and housing tax credit into the "Credito Universal" which promised to eliminate all inefficiencies in the state's welfare system. The third measure was the mass layoff of all state governmental employees, besides legislators and judges, in favor of contractors who would hired on a yearly basis. The fourth measure was the addition of an amendment to the constitution banning deficit spending and forcing all budgets to be balanced before they become law. And the last measure was a slashing of the state's gasoline subsidies, as both a cost saving measure and an environmental measure to appease the greens.
Of course, these massive reforms were met with immediate opposition from the middle and lower class residents of Puerto Rico, who decried the massive cuts to pensions and welfare in favor of raising regressive indirect taxes. However, most surprisingly for the Partido Renovacion was the fact that some of the fiercest opposition to this measure came from rural regions.
Demographically being much older and socially conservative than the urban cities, rural areas had been a stronghold of Partido Renovacion prior to 2017. However the "Cambiemos" reforms hit rural areas the hardest due to the unique situation of Puerto Rico. Being an island state, Puerto Rico is forced to import all the oil it needs, which greatly increases the price of gasoline on the island. In the past the gasoline subsidies had helped to keep the price of gas under $3 a gallon, however with the elimination of all gas subsidies by the Partido Renovacion gas prices shot up overnight to over $5 a gallon. The price of gas sky rocketed again to over $10 a gallon when the double whammy of hurricanes Airam and Amri destroyed the ports of Puerto Rico, driving many truckers out of business. And with a lack of truckers to ship vital supplies to the more remote regions of Puerto Rico tens of thousands of civilians were estimated to have died in the following months.
With people dying in droves in the rural villages of Puerto Rico a mass protest movement erupted among the rural municipalities, spear headed by the unemployed truckers who wore their high visibility vests to stand out among the protesting crowds. Thus the greater protest movement soon became known as the Movimineto de los Chalecos Amarillos, or the "Yellow Vest Movement" in English.
While the federal government did prioritize Puerto Rico and helped pumped hundreds of billion of dollars worth of aid into the state, by then the damage had already been done. With the people blaming the poor timing of the Partido Renovacion's reforms rolling out only a month before hurricane Airam hit on May 17th, 2018 the Movimiento de los Chalecos Amarillos announced their formation as a political party, intending to beat the Partido Renovacion on their home turf.
With the MCA regularly mobilizing upwards of a hundred thousands protesters to march across the state every Saturday the Partido Renovacion realized how they faced certain deaths at the polls if they didn't act fast. Thus the Partido Renovacion attempted to reimplement the gas subsidies and increase everyone's pensions to ensure that their base of older voters was shored up. However the party soon realized that they had become their worst enemy when they realized these measures would need to balanced out by some raising in taxes in order to satisfy the conditions of their balanced budget amendment. As such, they were forced to raise income tax rates, and given that Puerto Rico has a flat tax this measure only ended up angering the rural working class even more.
In the end the Partido Renovacion faced its worst defeat in the history of the party, falling from 106 seats to 49 seats. The majority of these lost seats went to the Movimiento de los Chalecos Amarillos, who gained 46 seats, and others went to the Progresistas who gained 17 seats. With the Progresistas, Partido Renovacion, and Moviemiento de los Chalecos Amarillos many thought it would be an ordeal to try and find a working government. However the MCA soon made it clear that while they did not wish to participate in any government, they also despised the Partido Renovacion, and as such would supply a Progresista government.
Since the Partido Revolucionario has long been little more than the black wing of the Progresistas, a Progresista government was thus more than ensured. All it would take was a bit of haggling with the Verdes and suddenly the left coalition possessed the necessary votes to undo all the Cambiemos constitutional reforms and enact even a few economically left ones instead, such a removal of the flat tax system with a progressive tax system instead. As such, the future of Puerto Rico has forever been shifted to the left, with the dominance of the Partido Renovacion being seemingly irreversibly broken.
Government:
Progresista/Progressive - While technically a bilingual party, due to the overwhelming dominance of Spanish in Puerto Rico they are often known as solely the Progresista party by the locals. A left wing party which is both socially liberal and economically left wing, they first rose to power following the start of the Second Great Depression, though then they fell out of power as politics started to go back to their normal state. However, with the "Cambiemos" constitutional reforms bringing about a massive backlash against the Partido Renovacion, the party has been able to rise back into power, and for now at least the political window of Puerto Rican politics has been shifted left.
Partido Revolucionario - Originally a socialist party, they have moved more and more to the center over the years, and in Puerto Rico have become little more than the party for Afro-Puerto Rican rights. They also have been long standing allies of the Progresistas, consisting backing them ever since the national progressive party first started a branch in the state.
Supply:
Movimiento de los Chalecos Amarillos - A broad tent party, grown out of its namesake protest movement, the party is generally center left on economics and center right on social issues. With the majority of its supporters being those who live in rural areas, the party is especially attuned to the interests of rural Puerto Ricans who have often been neglected in favor of those in the San Juan metropolitan area.
Verdes/Green - A party for the liberal upper middle class, due to the more conservative nature of Puerto Rico, this branch of the green party is more economically right wing than the national party. Unfortunately, this lead to a loss of more than half of their seats in the 2018 election due to their association with the disastrous Partido Revolucionario government. Nevertheless, with a new party leader at their head they have decided to support the Progresista government to reverse the "Cambiemos" reforms.
Opposition:
Partido Renovacion - Formerly the natural ruling party of Puerto Rico, with the mass defection of MPs to the MCA and large sections of their supporters switching to this movement, the party has been left a shell of its former self. Based around the middle class residents of San Juan, they managed to prevent a complete collapse thanks to their votes and their wealth which kept the airwaves of Puerto Rico bombarded with constant Partido Renovacion advertisements up until election day.
Partido de Dios - The party of Pentecostal Hispanics, they are fanatical protestants who believe both socialists and Catholics to be the spawn of Satan. While they do have some support in Puerto Rico, for the most part they have remained a fringe far right party which is condemned and ignored by all the major political parties.