Ready for a new “Old Glory”?

Puerto Rico approves statehood ballot measure

Passing almost unnoticed in the U.S. media, the citizens of Puerto Rico have taken a major step. For the first time, a majority of the residents of the self-governing U.S. commonwealth have approved a ballot measure that tells its government to go ahead and seek statehood status.

This could happen, I am not saying that it will or it won’t, but the possibilities are fascinating.

President Obama already has said (apparently) that he would look favorably upon such a request from the Puerto Ricans, but the real hurdle lies in Congress. Any statehood has to pass congressional muster before it can go into to effect. The last time it happened in the late 1950s when Congress approved the addition of Alaska and Hawaii as states, thus changing Old Glory’s constellation from 48 stars to 50 stars (with a brief interlude with 49 stars)

Should Puerto Rico become a state:

That would mean the number of Senators would rise to 102, to accommodate its two new members

But would it mean that the House would rise to 436 members? Good question. Or would the House have to be reapportioned to accommodate the new representative. (Of course, maybe Puerto Rico would qualify for more than one House member)

Then there would be the flag issue. How do you arrange 51 stars on the canton? Go figure.