Political radar screen

Street corners, road shoulders and major intersections have turned into graveyards of political billboards. It’s a mixed bag of politicos—less seasoned to unseasoned—all pitching their wares for votes. The endless smile through dawn raises curiosity: Can they do their jobs with the same resiliency?

We have young political timber that obviously outshines soggy old wood, the latter being useless in most cases. The younger ones offer more courage, ability to listen, and resiliency promising stronger engagement with issues.

You test the percipiency of the old guards and they instantly sink into the netherworld of abecedarians—learning their ABCs. Analyzing, you quiz if you wish to leave your fate at their feet. If from the outset they’re confused and disengaged, why prolong the agony? Change is here!

Policymaking is serious work requiring at least a four-year college degree in public administration, political science, economics, journalism, accounting, or business administration, among others. Any idea what current policies entail relating to taxation, investments, the legal system, renewable energy, land tenure system, and regulations—specifically whether they stifle or encourage growth? Specifically, are they constructive toward investments or simply predatory all the way around? Or is this the first time you’ve seen these queries raised?

What about the individual and joint roles of PSS and NMC in the education of our young people? Shouldn’t NMC take the lead role in the formulation of policies through the establishment of a “research and development center”? Have you given these issues some preliminary review? I definitely wish to engage some of you in serious discussions on these issues. Doing another round of Three Blind Mice isn’t going to cut it either. Your term is the defining moment on whether we make it or break it!

Up ahead, the current requirement of a high school diploma would morph into an AA in a specific area of endeavor. Moreover, this requirement too would subsequently demand for a BA or BS degree commensurate with job openings. Do you see why the importance of education for our people? If you haven’t been there it’s good to brush up on policy issues. You want to be able to hit the ground running toward a goal post, confident you’d score a touchdown.

Bureau must be equipped
Most neophyte legislators never find the back door of the chamber. The two years quickly zip by and he now must justify re-election. I mean how do you justify zero-sum performance?

This anomaly isn’t solely the fault of legislators. The presiding officers should have funneled more money into the Legislative Bureau for professional expertise or mega-research work that may be sought by a legislator.

Upon completion of the research material and accompanying legislation, the legislator is given a briefing what the work entails from A-Z. He goes over it several times until he’s conversant with it and could ably articulate it in committee meetings or on the floor. Otherwise, I’ve seen too many of them scavenging for legislation, including those written in ancient times.

An excellent example of a major law that should have included critical due diligence is our infamous casino industry. And so the law establishes one. Now what? Critical administrative agencies are now being gathered to address infrastructural deficit. These agencies should have been called right front and center earlier. Organization on this score has just started—the usual cart before the bull!

Renegotiation?
Fact: The Covenant Agreement is a “permanent” arrangement” and this assertion was confirmed by former Speaker Oscar Rasa, a Covenant negotiator himself. It’s humiliating for any policymaker to claim ignorance on this score. Are you suffering from atrophy of your own history?

The only avenue today is to seek revival of the 902 talks. Such is the right forum to review the relationship with honest assessments of the performance of both sides of the Pacific Divide!

If every discontentment is superficially addressed via the pages of the newspaper, then it is hardly a realistic assessment of the sentiment of the indigenous people. A few spouts and irrelevant patch ups aren’t necessarily representative of local views.

If “meaningful self-government” is the goal, did we fight the feds responsibly on takeover of immigration? Doesn’t control of immigration and labor go in tandem with economic growth? Interesting the view of shallow politicians then who saw it as being disrespectful.

Would you still carry the same servile attitude given the destruction federal immigration takeover has forced upon the local economy? Obviously, there was the grand lack of percipiency to even see the direct relationship between immigration and the local economy.

Definitely, a lot has gone wrong in paradise. Chief of these is the caliber of leadership who never had the gravitas and insightful intuition to see beyond the years. It’s stuck in the dystopian view that acceding to every whim from Washington is the answer to guarding the fragile island economy of the NMI. We had lousy, disengaged, and disoriented stewards, didn’t we?

Truth hurts!
Over the years, folks who were here nearly four to five decades ago or so would revisit the islands and render views of events per their prism. At any rate and regardless of their spouts you should steer clear turning into reactionaries.

Staying cool-headed grants you cerebral view of their opinions without resorting to racial ad hominem. Sure, we may not have the writing agility to shoot right back with thoughtful rhetoric. It’s more the reason to stay calm and fact-check your materials.

Gary DuBrall has riled up local dystopian mañana or comfort zones. It’s easy refuting his assertions, but what’s our concern, the commissioner’s fate or the quality of instructions for our children? Get my drift? Again, it isn’t who said it but what was said—must separate people from issues—in order to rationally benefit from healthy discussions. This is part and whole of the democratic process!