No it doesn't. I literally just went through it sentence-by-sentence and demonstrated that every single thing it states as evidence of Puerto Rico's autonomy is also something that a state can do, or something which makes it less autonomous than a state. It's only common sense to say that if a political subdivision can do less than a state can it can't at the same time be more autonomous than a state. If you're going to persuade me that I'm wrong, I need to see some specific examples of how it's more autonomous than a state is. So far, all the evidence you've provided points in the exact opposite direction.Except it does, repeatedly.
No, you're completely misunderstanding me. The argument was that Puerto Rico resisted assimilation because it is more autonomous than a state would be, which I understand to mean more politically autonomous, that is more able to operate independently and without reference to the federal government than a state. In other words, it was you who was arguing that factors such as budgetary process rules could play a role in causing assimilation, at least in my understanding. The point of bringing them up in the first place was to show that Puerto Rico is not more politically autonomous than states and that therefore this could not be a factor in whether or not assimilation occurred; in other words, I was specifically setting out to show exactly the opposite of what you claim I was doing.Your entire argument rests on ignoring everything else that differentiates Puerto Rico in favor of arguing budgetary process rules can decide whether or not assimilation occurs.
Obviously everything else that differentiates Puerto Rico from the mainland United States than their political autonomy--in other words, culture, language, and so on--also exists. But that's also true in Mexico! Mexico will also have a large population with a culture extremely different from the mainland. They also have distinct languages--plural, since there are many indigenous languages spoken in different parts of the country. They have a distinct literature, distinct arts, a distinct history, everything that Puerto Rico has and even more, given that Mexico is one of the American cradles of civilization. So if those factors led to Puerto Rico resisting Anglicization, why would they suddenly fail in a country where they would be even stronger?
There's hardly a bright line between them.You're conflating regionalism with a sense of nationalism.
There's a reason I said "perhaps in some cases". This would obviously be extremely rare, of course. However, as there is a (very small) Texas independence movement it seems highly likely to me that there are at least a handful of people out there who really do think of themselves as more "Texan" than "American".Further, I am not aware of any polling with regards to Texas that they place that identity before being American.
I don't see how it is irrelevant in the slightest, considering that you're the one who brought up the national symbols of Puerto Rico and have lectured me about focusing on political autonomy and ignoring other signs of identity. The point is that states as well as commonwealths can have distinct identities and cultures, so that the mode of political organization has no necessary impact on related characteristics such as the linguistic makeup of a region.This is, however, irrelevant to the matter at hand.
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