I should start clarifying that I am not a follower of the New Progressive Party (Partido Nuevo Progresista or PNP), the political party that last Tuesday won the elections in Puerto Rico. Until the year 2002, the year on which I moved from Puerto Rico to New Jersey, I was a member of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño or PIP), and I still relieve that the best choice for the future of my country is its political independence. I should say also that I don’t feel towards the Popular Democratic Party (Partido Popular Democrático or PPD), the still governing party that lost this elections, the visceral rejection that of the PIP traditionally have felt towards the PPD. If the PPD embraces the soberanist autonomical ideal that proposes its left wing, its proposal would be as valid as independence.
Having said this, I should say that if the PNP fulfill its promises and works on following its proposed platform, its victory could be the best that has happened to the family institution in Puerto Rico.
For reasons that combine the most vulgar electoral logic (women are more than men and vote in biggest proportion than them, therefore, political parties should never do anything that could scare their votes away) and a perverse interpretation of feminism (the majority of Puerto Rican feminism does not promotes equality between genders, but a kind of feminine supremacism), the PPD and the PIP have opposed vehemently to every attempt of approving laws that promote joint custody and establish fair parameters for child support payments. When during this administration, an excellent law pro-joint custody was submitted for the legislature approval, the government aimed at it all its cannons, from the Department of Justice, the Courts Administration to, shamefully, the Department of Family.
The PNP includes in its platform (Juntos hacia el cambio, http://www.fortunogobernador.com/images/PLANDEGOBIERNOPNP2009-2012.pdf) a section dedicated to its proposals on family issues (p. 147-50), and in it includes promises of promoting joint custody whenever possible and the revision of laws on child support to make them more fair. Now that the PNP has won, we Puerto Ricans should dedicate the next four years to remind it to fulfill what its platform promises. If the PNP does it, it would become the first Puerto Rican party that really does something to remedy the accelerated deterioration of the Puerto Rican society.
For the sake of Puerto Rico, let us believe that the PNP is going to keep its promises. All of us should continue reminding them to do so.
Our children are waiting for us.
Having said this, I should say that if the PNP fulfill its promises and works on following its proposed platform, its victory could be the best that has happened to the family institution in Puerto Rico.
For reasons that combine the most vulgar electoral logic (women are more than men and vote in biggest proportion than them, therefore, political parties should never do anything that could scare their votes away) and a perverse interpretation of feminism (the majority of Puerto Rican feminism does not promotes equality between genders, but a kind of feminine supremacism), the PPD and the PIP have opposed vehemently to every attempt of approving laws that promote joint custody and establish fair parameters for child support payments. When during this administration, an excellent law pro-joint custody was submitted for the legislature approval, the government aimed at it all its cannons, from the Department of Justice, the Courts Administration to, shamefully, the Department of Family.
The PNP includes in its platform (Juntos hacia el cambio, http://www.fortunogobernador.com/images/PLANDEGOBIERNOPNP2009-2012.pdf) a section dedicated to its proposals on family issues (p. 147-50), and in it includes promises of promoting joint custody whenever possible and the revision of laws on child support to make them more fair. Now that the PNP has won, we Puerto Ricans should dedicate the next four years to remind it to fulfill what its platform promises. If the PNP does it, it would become the first Puerto Rican party that really does something to remedy the accelerated deterioration of the Puerto Rican society.
For the sake of Puerto Rico, let us believe that the PNP is going to keep its promises. All of us should continue reminding them to do so.
Our children are waiting for us.
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