Yearend island intrigues

You’re tired, frustrated, paralyzed by assorted unsolicited slam dunks, panting for air in hopelessness while humming, “where have all the flowers gone?” Is this it or is there still hope for the better? Is it a realistic viewpoint? How do we translate it into lasting policy decisions? Do we carry on with more of the same or shall we jointly shift gear?

Gee, there’s more to do in 2012 than meets the eye, right? Let’s splurge so we move along with the season, although parties and overeating are not all comfort and joy!

Private industries suffer heavily from two federal laws that imposed both uncertainty and fees beyond the reach of struggling small businesses. Can the Legislature work on removing recently imposed hurdles or is it still sleepwalking? Can it converge with the learned experts and others so we jointly trump our cards for fresh ideas? Or would this exercise result in another round of redundancy and mediocrity?

The NMI has a lot on its plate it could hardly resolve with some sense of common decency. Ah! The holiday season where it’s time to party-up with permissible overeating and boozing. But we know it isn’t all comfort and joy, not for the jobless who recently lost the first family home.

Be that as it may, local Republican leadership finds difficulty peddling its “drink milk” brand of advice to incumbents it recently slighted. If only the pesky bunch would just shut up, things would be fine. Even this Christmas Eve could be celebrated with “sleep in heavenly peace” and all shall be fine. But it’s an unlikely a scenario.

Fitial and his cabal are reassessing how to market their brand of milk. Would changing the color of the can from red to white ensure appeasement of incumbents it decided to throw out to sea? Would the GOP architects teach those whom it dumped at sea how to swim in milk? That would have the equivalence of forcing an ant to swallow a whole cow. Sorry, there’s no room there for those of us who live in the real world. But we could hear GOP helmsmen nervously whistling discordant notes as they walk past graveyards. Whose graveyards?

The Covenant hardly feels abandoned by the untimely disappearing act of the titular head it placed in office. It still stands proud and courageously saying with tongue in cheek, “Eh, we only want cold milk and let there be peace and harmony in Republican land.”

The troubling dilemma brings into focus pondering our future in the silent corners of our mind. We quiz if there’s any hope at all for a brighter 2012 or will it be more of the same under the charge of exhausted demagoguery? Or do we step up to the plate so we could recapture our future, as uncomfortable as it may be?

The exhausted guards know with painful certainty that they would lose control of the political landscape. This would deny them the power to continue telling us what to do in perpetuity. No one is ready to repeat destructive and painful recent history nor employ selective amnesia and be victimized by irresponsibility once more. Change is finally on its way.

Are you satisfied with the way things are where dystopia, meaning-where nothing works-rules the day, sending thousands of families to the pits of misery daily? Do you wish to repeat with inebriated, exhausted demagogues who are at best, dysfunctional, dazed, fat, and immobile? Luxury isn’t in our lexicon or vocabulary! How much longer do you have to cut back on familial necessities?
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For proponents of keeping Article 12 intact, it’s good if you do yourself a favor by reading up on “natural” and “civil” rights. It should give you a clearer view which category the right to property falls. To hide behind the use of the term “protection” without a true and factual explanation of the fallacies and shortsightedness of Article 12 would be an injustice, especially for proponents peddling fallacious ware.

Understandably, the old exhausted guards are struggling to retain relevancy in dealing with governance if only to retain controlling the political landscape. Like a baseball pitcher who has reached his peak, it’s best to hang up your gloves while you still could sashay out of the field. Better yet, climb the bleachers if only to see a different and pleasant view of the baseball diamond.
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There’s a quiet political scheme to topple Kilili from his Washington seat. What bundle of fallacy, if not, insanity gone wild! Kilili truly enjoys the connectivity he’s established and nurtured with the simple folks at home through town hall meetings. He listens to the voice of his people (governance) while others did the same in absentia with pomposity.

Furthermore, Kilili has established a networking system working with colleagues from both sides of the aisle in the U.S. House of Representatives. He doesn’t need a super lobbyist like recently released federal prisoner Jack Abramoff to push his agenda through Congress. He walks and works the aisle daily with a sense of humility. Kilili will win this year’s race by another landslide!
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Would the old Covenant guards retain their seat in the Legislature or would they all have to deal with the bad side of history? Too, some of the Republicans with less than sterling performance would also bite the dust. In brief, most Covenant incumbents would return not. It’s the end of another day where governance would make you graduates of the Class of 2012.

The Legislature needs people with real credentials and experience, people with strong perception of issues and a clear understanding and ability to articulate their materials forthwith. No more “addresses” please. It’s time to buckle down to the pits of realistic problem solving.

Some issues requiring thoughtful review include the titanic crash of the local economy, skyrocketing cost of health care destined to deny services to the poorest, tourism swaying at the base ready to do its titanic crash; wealth and jobs creation; education; horrendous cost of utilities and a safe community. Some of these issues require fact-based materials prepared by real experts. It requires policymakers to be conversant and ready for educated discussion and disposition.

Please steer clear of tinkering with another set of laws about bicycle safety and undergarment display in Garapan. Is this the depth of policymaking of simply missing the largest issue (economy) staring at you straight in the eye? But here’s that Clintonesque declaration, “It’s the economy, stupid!” How relevant still, huh?

DelRosario is a regular contributor to the Saipan Tribune’s Opinion Section.