Politics & Power Quote by Dick Thornburgh

A sentence like this is the polished brass of Washington rhetoric: it shines, it reflects, and it carefully avoids leaving fingerprints. Thornburgh frames Puerto Rico's status question as a matter of "empowerment", but only after Congress "does its job" - a quiet reminder of who holds the keys. The promise of self-determination is offered with an asterisk: Puerto Ricans can choose, but only within the menu Congress decides to print.

The phrase "in this regard" is classic bureaucratic fog, signaling a narrow, procedural fix rather than a moral reckoning. "Empowered to act in their own self-interest" sounds benevolent, yet it subtly casts Puerto Ricans as currently unable to pursue their interests without federal permission, which is the colonial dynamic translated into managerial language. Even "express their future political status aspirations accordingly" is telling: "aspirations" softens demands into preferences, and "accordingly" implies that proper expression follows proper congressional process. The autonomy being celebrated is, in practice, conditional compliance.

Context matters. Thornburgh, a Republican elder statesman and former U.S. Attorney General, spoke from within a system that has long treated Puerto Rico's status as both a democratic puzzle and a political inconvenience. The quote performs that balancing act: it gestures toward democratic legitimacy while preserving congressional supremacy. It's not a rallying cry; it's a procedural lullaby - one that makes the power imbalance sound like responsible governance.