Are we better off today than 10 year ago?

Last night I got to thinking that with so many things going wrong in the CNMI lately, are we better off today than, say, 10 years ago? I don’t intend to answer this question for you. Each of us has to answer it for himself. But if we don’t answer it and take action to correct the situation, the worst is yet to come. Sure, I know the world appears to be heading for a recession, but you and I still need to put food on the table. And we must take action at a local level to make sure we will continue to feed our families and pay our basic financial obligations.

As usual, I am not telling you what to do or how to remedy the situation, but I beg that you think seriously about what is happening to us and take initiatives to correct what is not good. Stop blaming the outside world for all our shortcomings. We live on a small island and have meager resources, but we have brains and hands to make wrong right if we have the determination. We can learn to live within our means. We can be innovative. We can stop the foolish and wasteful spending of money.

Review the following questions and ask yourself whether you are better off today or 10 years ago.

1. Are you earning more money today?

2. Are you able to enjoy your family life better today?

3. Do you feel more secure today?

4. Are you happier today?

5. Is the CNMI a better place to live in today?

6. Are you satisfied with the present Administration and legislators?

7. Do you feel your children have a better chance at life today in the CNMI?

8. Do you feel federalization will hurt us?

9. Do you feel the United States is to blame for many of our problems?

10.Are you proud to be a U. S. citizen?

11. Do you feel that the government is truly trying to improve our daily lives?

12.Do you feel that the CNMI will ever become self-sufficient?

The above are only a few questions to start you thinking. You probably have many more. But think through what is happening to us and then take action to improve the situation. We have the power in us. Do we have the will?

Let’s get off our buts and butts and do something about what is happening to us. You and I together are feeling the pain and no one else cares. My hurt is my hurt and your hurt is yours. Stop waiting for something good to happen because it will not unless you and I make it happen!

I want to borrow several quotes from a columnist named Charlie Reese, which seem to fit here. I found them thoughtful as I searched for remedies for improving our local problems. I modified several of them to fit our local situation.

1. Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

2. Have you ever wondered why, if both Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?

3. When you fully grasp the plain truth that the Administration and Congress exercise the power of the government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

4. If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

5. If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.

6. You and I don’t propose the budget. The Governor does.

7. You and I don’t set fiscal policy, our Congress does.

8. All the members of House and Senate and the Governor are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

9. These elected officials spend much of their energy convincing us that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con/scam regardless of party.

10. The Governor can only propose a budget.

11. He cannot force Congress to accept it.

12. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

13. I cannot think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to our elected officials.

14. There are no insoluble government problems.

15. If we have over 8,000 people on welfare, it is because they want it that way.

The above statements are harsh but sadly true. We elected these people to help us. But matters are only getting worse. Let’s stop being conned into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

These elected people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by us who are their bosses—provided we, the voters, have the gumption to manage our own employees.

Are be better off today than 10 years ago? Will we be better off 10 years from now? The future is in our hands. Let’s not fumble it.