PugJesusNomenclature means it's not an empire, right?
https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/1942758/nomenclature-means-it-s-not-an-empire-right
Explanation: In the late 19th and early 20th century, the US ‘acquired’ several large overseas territories, including Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines. A number of smaller territorial concessions with military strategic value were also acquired. Rather than admitting to having forged AN EMPIRE in the vein of the European powers, continual debate and controversy in the USA (whose electorate traditionally cannot tell one region of the world from another, and usually doesn’t care to) left them as ‘unincorporated territories’. Largely, they were economically exploited like colonial concessions, but their exact legal status was hazy.
We aren’t saying you’re part of an overseas colonial empire! But we’re not NOT saying it either! 🥸
ToastedRavioliThe territories are still exploited through economic extraction, save for those that are only strategically valuable to the military (like Guam). Puerto Rico sends far more tax money to the federal government than the federal government sends to Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican people, as they are ineligible for most social benefits.
If a state like Mississippi or Arkansas were treated the same way they would be in financial shambles by next week, not to mention how screwed everyone in those states would be without what limited social safety nets we have. Yet people have the audacity to act like Puerto Rico owes us something for being a US colony
Skullgrid