What have they done vs. fed takeover?

The powerful message of “There will be no federal takeover of the NMI” from Speaker Benigno R. Fitial resuscitated our dashed hopes against detractors who are bent to compromise our rights to self-government.

The message took even the previous legislative leadership by surprise not that there is anything new, but there came the thundering straightforward message of a powerful determination to protect the political and economic freedoms of the people of these isles from total ruination. In other words, former legislative leadership somehow missed the train while standing at the train station!

The “surprise, surprise, surprise” syndrome is a tale of how our glorified Washington Office has royally failed our people in the defense and protection of our rights to self-government. Juan N. Babauta chooses to vacillate in order to look good on both sides of the Pacific. Sorry, the local people are no longer ignorant of your flip-flopping bid that runs contrary to our belief as a governance.

The statement further brings into critical focus: What have the previous legislative leadership and our glorified Washington Representative done to articulate the true sentiments of this group of US Citizens before the US Congress? Did they also apologize to Senator Daniel Akaka, the arch-enemy of the NMI in the US Senate? Have they been meeting with our friends or enemies? Talk about the obvious lack of integrity and courage to defend these isles from the tyranny of unequal application of policy that favors others while trying to annihilate the NMI.

It is really embarrassing how our alleged leaders have worked and slept with our enemies trumpeting their agenda rather than the sentiments of our people or this group of US Citizens. They have placed political aspirations over the true sentiments of the people they represent. No worries! We shall cross that bridge together someday soon, yeah?

Democracy and Human Rights: Synonymous?

I’ve been reading up on these two concepts to determine the often mistaken view that they are synonymous. It’s a rough terrain given that they are not necessarily the same though most think it is. In his book, Asian Values Western Dreams, Greg Sheridan wrote:

“Part of the problem in Western and especially American reactions to China comes from the classically American confusion of democracy and human rights. They are related concepts, obviously, but they are not the same thing, and the American habit, even at the highest level, of speaking of them as they were is an obstacle to good policy on China, policy which actually encourage the expansion of human rights.

“The distinction between democracy and human rights is fundamental. Democracy does not always lead to respect for human rights. It mostly does, but not always. Hitler, after all, was voted into power, albeit with a minority votes. The southern states of the US were all democracies when they denied basic civil rights, even effectively the franchise, to their black populations right up to the 1960s.

“The majority sometimes does vote to persecute the minority. Similarly, non-democratic states do not always abuse basic human rights. Perhaps the best example of that is Hong Kong itself. It all its history it has never been a democracy, yet for several decades it has certainly observed its citizens’ rights.

“Again, the doctrine of much of the Western human rights lobby–that all human rights are equally important–is analytically ridiculous and gets in the way of a sensible discussion. The right to life is more important than the right to organize a trade union. The right to choose whom you marry is more important than the right to free political expression. The right to freedom from arbitrary arrest is far more important than the right to total freedom of speech.”