The Legislative Diet: Want to loose weight? Chop a leg off.
Puerto Rican politics. Ovye. The last crises in the national debate now concerns the intent to establish a unicameral Congress, thereby reducing the number of legislators from around 100 to some 50. It is believed that, since the Puerto Rican is small in comparison to others, it does not require as many legislators, who incur high costs to the government. Although its reasoning has its "logic", it is based on erroneous presumptions, being analogous to chopping off a leg to loose weight. Ironically, although the project suggests a comparison to the United States, we should note-that when that nation was formed towards then end of the 18 th century, it was feared that a bicameral would not be applicable. It was observed that this structure was more appropriate to small nations, with less anonymity than in those with large territories and populations. The error of the unicameral project in Puerto Rico resided in the necessity of having two chambers that would ideally represent the "popular" and the "elite" interests, to thus represent the ENTIRE population. The project basically ignores what it needs to do--drastically cut the salaries of those who are taking advantage of the state budget. A study done by Joaquin Villamil (Estudios Técnicos) in 2004 revealed that Puerto Rico, with the lowest per capita income of the United States (if it were a state), pays around $1,200,000 to each legislator. California, one of the riches states, pays less than half to its legislators, some $400,000 annually. In other words, we should cut the salaries and benefits of the ENTIRE congressional membership by much more than 2/3 parts, at least by 11/12 of what they actually receive today. As W. Miranda Marin (Hon. Mayor of Caguas, PPD) pointed out, this would generate more than sufficient income for what really counts in a modern economy: science and technology.