Ending the Electoral College

[DavidEduardo]

One can call them "quasi-legal," but acquiring the defeated country's territories after a war was a given until only recently, including the British acquiring what are now the Great Lakes states and Ontario from the French after the Seven Years War (aka "The French and Indian War") a few years prior to the Revolution.

But the Spanish-American War was a trumped* up affair, entered into after the yellow journalism of Hearst and Pulitzer glorified a coal dust explosion into an attack by Spain and created an excuse for a war that had no cause.

This was indeed an early example of "fake news" and the furor it can create.

But I thought the Puerto Rican people voted every few years on their status -- remaining a Commonwealth, statehood, or independence. They continue to keep the status quo. The latter two would require Congressional approval, but neither has ever been accepted by the people, AFAIK. Nothing should change unless they want it.

Statehood has been a narrow majority choice in the last several non-binding referendum votes. Politics, being the national sport of Puerto Rico, always means that the votes never get to the point of a Congressional vote. Instead, the "meaning" of "commonwealth" and "statehood" debated eternally. It was so when I first moved there in 1970 and remains so today as I still have part of my family there.

A declining percentage of people want independence. Back in 1970 it was around 5%, today it is under the 2% required for the pro-independence party to remain registered.

Of course, steering this back into a radio and TV topic, the electronic media is vehemently opposed to independence or further autonomy as that would result in local station licensing, and we'd likely see changes in the status quo and the granting of many new authorizations and the general politicization of media.

I've even been a voter in a Broadcaster's Association motion to oppose any relaxation of the FCC's authority on the Island.

* Intentional word use.