Old paradigms are history

Next year marks the 40th year of self-government on the islands. The lowering of this year’s curtain is just as good a time to reflect upon our journey. It’s good to know our whereabouts and shifts in the way things are done that have changed dramatically.

A friend and I have paced these shifts, knowing full well what happens when the winds of change blows. It requires sturdy and steady footing in order to do the right thing by doing them right. It’s about purposeful and meaningful flexibility. But we’ve been derailed by our own inability to stay focused. Has representation of “we the people” stayed the same or has influence of sort compromised it?

•••

The lifeblood of this community is economic diversification. It’s dangerous limiting it to casino or tourism. The single pathway we now travel on is woefully fragile and dangerous. Do we have serious plans to lure Nippon investments to our shores once more? Or are we still wrapped in complete disorientation?

As Nippon investments contracts to near permanency, we keep repeating the NMI’s need for it yet we haven’t set the framework to factually address such need from both ends of the equation. There’s the obvious lack of definition and resolve.

Clash: Need the power clash between our country and China play out for us to understand its ramifications here now reliant on Chinese tourists?

•••

In 1993, we told the U.S. Congress no more grant funds! We were generating more than our share of revenues. Then we stumbled into the quicksand of iffy financial posture as a result of misappropriation, miscalculation of resources, and lack of resolve to plan for our future. We’re now trying to figure out not only “where is north” but “what is north?” Where did we drop vision and conviction, the recipe for steady building of an economic foundation?

•••

We learned the new legislative mathematical formula of 156 percent plus 36 percent equals 80 percent! Reviewing basic math is an exercise in futility. PSS ought to check this out.

•••

Did we make progress strengthening the institutions of government? We did, though given the protracted nature of a democracy and the numerous mishandling of state affairs reactions would be mixed, if not despondent!

The NMI succeeded in the institution of self-government since 1978. The Constitution was written and approved the year before. We’ve since elected seven governors and dozens of legislators.

In 2008, the NMI was granted a non-voting delegate in Congress. Kilili has been our delegate for nine years. He’s built what’s known as “seniority”—expansion of influence—in committees and among colleagues. It’s a plus for the islands. He’s a ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Politicos: I’ve met revered old guards, including those felled by human frailties or power and greed. Occasionally, we see their heads pop-up like Jack in the Box, hoping their crocodile tears would appease the people they’ve trashed, violated and shamed.

We also had testy relations with Washington on a number of issues, the most prominent being the loss of local immigration control in 2008. It’s a policy matter that perceptually threatens investment opportunities ahead. It has recently turned into the usual blame game, exacerbated by our inability to admit fiduciary failure.

Resolve: Though we run into our own bouts for failure to focus on issues, I’m still convinced we’re most capable regrouping and snapping back to the task of doing things right. Discouraging the indifference to get things done right. It lends to allowing the dictates of tyranny to reign and spread its filthy tentacles all over. Call it corruption!

I’m equally wary of the powerful silent influence of firms who’ve turned legislators into servile lapdogs. It instantly compromises quality of representation where Da Boysis ask their sugar daddies how high must they jump even while horsing around Banzai Cliff. Why would you compromise initial commitment to help the people in your villages?

Reset? At the same time, are these signals from Washington that we need to seriously reset buttons by critically questioning if temperamental growth solely based on a single-engine economy the realistic answer to fostering solid economic foundation? With the Japanese market eventually shutting down altogether, what happens to tourism if the parole program is discontinued or CW workers permanently shuttered?

Obviously, these issues can’t be treated with “business as usual” paradigm. It requires leadership capable of calling all sectors to a single room where cards are trumped to define our future. If this opportunity slips by, then everything we do hence is another round of whimsical policy decisions from D.C. Paradigms must change, now!

Profession: The journalist’s lot, like a policeman, isn’t a happy one. We’re overworked and underpaid and an asset to our publication and considered to be only good as our last story or write-up. We also have to endure hostility or become a magnet for adversity for writing about the truth. But that is the basic tenet of our profession.

It had not been a smooth ride coming from a culture that insists you keep your views or vital information to yourself. From the outset, I wasn’t ready to honor what culture imposes on this score. I broke that shell to serve as a public conscience.

Grateful that I come from a just community that gradually embraced the role of the press. I knew how tough it is exposing the political and personal sins of persons in high places and the fact that it is one of the most dangerous ways to make a living. “But only a free press can check the excesses of the powerful when they violate the public trust.”

It takes tough intellectual acuity and integrity to stay the course. Yep! Have had my own cuts and bruises. Highly rewarding though the lifetime discipline to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! Felis año nuebu!