Socialism and deficit spending

It is fashionable in some circles to blame former Governor Froilan C. Tenorio for the CNMI’s current financial problems. The projected $52 million deficit was all his fault, many would have us believe. If it wasn’t for Froilan’s wasteful spending, we would not be in so much trouble today.

Such statements as these are extremely misleading. They serve as a sort of scapegoat, as a means of saving face, of evading responsibility and transferring the blame toward a more vulnerable culprit: the ever controversial former Governor Froilan Cruz Tenorio, defiant and rambunctious man that he is.

Yet if the truth be known, Froilan Tenorio is not entirely to blame for our current financial mess. While it is certainly true that Froilan must have squandered some funds, it is also true that he himself inherited a substantial budget deficit from former Governor Larry I. Guerrero.

True enough, Froilan promised to erase that deficit, and he failed, just as Governors Guerrero and Tenorio did before him — and just as Governor Carlos Camacho might have done if we had enough money to squander back then.

According to Public Auditor Leo LaMotte, the CNMI government has had a deficit for the past 12 fiscal years. During Governor Pete P. Tenorio’s second term in office, in fiscal years 1986, 1987 and 1998, we had budget deficits of $15 million, $27 million and $17 million, respectively.

Virtually every CNMI administration has incurred a budget deficit. And who knows? If Mr. LaMotte could go back and audit the Camacho administration, maybe yet another budget deficit might still be uncovered. We shouldn’t be surprised.

Still, the governors are not entirely to blame. It’s the government itself, the system, the people, that remains at the heart of the problem, particularly today.

The governor is only a tool, an employee, of the people, of the majority. He has to abide by their wishes and give in to their demands, even if it is too expensive, too unreasonable, or too unethical.

The fundamental problem is the people’s eternal lust for socialism, for big government spending. So long as that irrational desire is not subdued, the threat of budget deficits will always remain. We will always be flirting promiscuously with financial insolvency, with bankruptcy, and endangering our very Commonwealth, no matter who the governor happens to be.