You attitude determines your altitude

The land should belong to every citizen in the CNMI and I hope that every voter will confirm this in 2011 when the land issue comes up for a vote. The U.S. Constitution clearly states that “no one shall be deprived of life, liberty and property” and the CNMI must conform to this in 2011 or vote for another delay to fulfill this Covenant requirement. I’m sure some people didn’t know about this so I thought it would be a good time to spread a little hope for the landless during this holiday season. Something just told me to mention this because I don’t know why the Legislature is even bothering with changing the law when it could all be changed again in 2011. The argument that the local people are going to lose their land with longer leases is not even an argument because the only way they can lose their land to anyone is to sell it by choice and that’s not losing. Wisdom tells me you can’t take anything with you when it’s over and people need to know the land alienation procedure will force the CNMI to eventually conform to the U.S. Constitution. I can understand the government protecting government lands but denying a local landowner the right to sell his personal property also violates his rights to property (money) and free enterprise. The only wisdom that I can offer is for the local people to just refuse to sell if the buyers are not local, that is, if local people really don’t believe in “equality” and don’t want to share. But the CNMI cannot go on forever taking away a primary guarantee of “property” that is a part of the Covenant that we have with our federal government under the U.S. Constitution.

The Legislature has been told to back off from autonomous agencies on more than one occasion. Autonomy never meant “no governance,” although it seems the boards in question seem to think differently. But it was Albert Einstein who offered the wisdom that you can’t fix a problem with the mentality that caused the problem. Public corporation officials “do have a misguided sense of their inherent political nature.” This attitude is not just CDA’s and NMHC’s because there are other boards that don’t want to be governed or lose any power.

The problem is about power and personal agenda, not the goals of the agency. Local laws can be made to accommodate the fed’s intervention in these agencies and wisdom tells me that if we can create a Covenant and Constitution that is acceptable to the federal government, then certainly we can make local laws that govern public agencies without jeopardizing federal funding. The excuses of jeopardizing federal money—and this may or may not happen—are empty excuses. If there is a real problem with the legislation then, do the work with the Legislature to hash out a solution that is best for the agency and the government but don’t refuse to be governed by crying “autonomous” since every public agency and citizen must be subject to the governance of our state Legislature.

One of the main reasons for the refusal to be governed is that board members have become permanent fixtures at the top of these agencies. These board post are not even a fulltime paying job but we have people making a career of being board members. The perks must be good, especially if you like to travel. Wisdom dictates that “longevity in these posts breeds complacency with a shortage of new ideas and perspectives and it also breeds self ownership, which prevents outside influence and contributes to the absolute power syndrome” that we see today. These board members should only have one or two terms of four years at the most because board members really aren’t held accountable for making the wrong decision.

The only check on the autonomous board members is every four years when they come up for election or appointment and the public still won’t know which board member is doing what because of the consensus nature of boards that totally negates the principle of dissenting opinions for the best possible resolution. The people and government have no way of determining the quality of their work, leaving it up to guesswork as to whom needs replacing. It’s also sad but sometimes board members serve a second or third term totally unopposed. It is not that the present people on these boards are not good people and I’m not saying they are doing bad. I just have expectations of getting better rather than the status quo. But it is not in the best interest of the Commonwealth in the long run for our state level boards to remain unchecked by law and without the real potential for change and new ideas that originate from a different perspective. Our society is constantly evolving and changing and expectations are changing, so must the “status quo” of our state level boards.

My mother, bless her soul, gave me only one bit of wisdom when I told her that I was moving out here. She said, “Ambrose, you are going out there on a small island in the middle of the ocean and you need to be aware that the big fish eat all the little fish, so you had better learn quickly how to grow big.” The leaders and citizens of the CNMI would do well to apply that wisdom to our efforts in social, economic and political reforms, as we are a little fish that is competing with big fish (other states and nations) on a global scale for our very survival and prosperity. Our leaders must begin to plan better and to look more at the bigger picture—that is, inclusive of all people living in the CNMI—if they want prosperity for the indigenous group of people because their job is to find prosperity for everyone in the CNMI, not just a few.

The ideology of limited economic activity yet economically prosperous is also contradictory to economic law. If we continue to think small, we will remain small accompanied by every disadvantage that comes with being small. It is said, “Your attitude determines your altitude.” I hope this letter of reflections about 2004 will help to open a few eyes and not harden any hearts because ‘tis the season to be jolly and I do want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy holiday season and the very best in the coming year. One people, one direction!

Ambrose Bennett
Kagman, Saipan