Candidates jockeying for votes

Candidates for the first NMI non-voting delegate to the U.S. Congress have been appearing on various forums expressing their views on several issues. Some have spoken with fresh ideas. Others have tried reinventing the wheel by regurgitating old ideas, while still others are completely off base.

For all the tired rhetoric we’ve heard so far, I often quiz if these folks are wary of the piles or layers of government they had to deal with, ALONE! For instance, there are 440 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, in addition to five non-voting delegates, 100 members of the U.S. Senate, and various departments of the federal government and over 1,000 agencies up and down Pennsylvania Avenue.

I recall former Delegate Bob Underwood conducting a familiarization presentation for his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives. Most remember Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base. That is the extent of their knowledge about Guam, never mind the indignity of its unincorporated territorial status. The ongoing build-up should make its people happy campers in the overall scheme of things. This viewpoint is as condescending as you wanted to be.

Now, we should congratulate senior members of the U.S. Congress for our newly obtained perpetual trophy on our “vote that counts when it doesn’t and doesn’t count when it counts”. We fight wars side-by-side and sing the same national anthem along fully represented soldiers. We’re wary of our military mission, screw the indignities hidden in our helmets, rifles or 60-pound bags. But then even women were once denied voting rights; Native Americans robbed of their land, and African Americans had to endure more than a century of discrimination. Is this indignity part of the process in the long and expensive journey to securing our rights to freedom and justice?

Who am I to complaint? A U.S. citizen who demands for, yes, Equal Representation!

The other salient issue where candidates turn mute is the rights of indigenous governance to a greater degree of self-government. This is guaranteed the CNMI under the Covenant Agreement. Where do you stand on this question? Or is it an issue that is best left unanswered with clarity for fear of having to do it right? Would you settle for acquiescence or explore refining our political relationship via the lawsuit? Isn’t seeking redress part and whole of our democratic system of government? I’d like to see the Big Boys grope for words on these queries!

Improvement of the local economy was showered with the usual tired old answers as candidates found themselves grasping for old ideas hoping they could offer concretes. Nice try! Their answers were vacuous and didn‘t offer concretes to shore-up stable policies from both sides of the Pacific Divide.

New investments? Isn’t it at DPL where investments of magnitude begin? Did you folks know that or did it escape your nimble minds?

The one issue that we must demand from Uncle Sam is EQUAL REPRESENTATION!

How long must we serve as humble indentured slaves of the new patron saints of the NMI the likes of Congressman George Miller, Rep. Donna Christensen, Antonio Babauta, Alan Stayman and David Cohen? Has it ever occurred to you the indignities we endure by voting for NON-VOTING delegates to the U.S. Congress? NON-VOTING? Where is equal representation in this grand contraption hailing from Washington?

The CNMI must consistently express its disgust and disagreement in this NON-VOTING delegate concept so demeaning for U.S. citizens outside mainstream US of A. Either we are part of it or we’re slaves in subtle form but must endure whimsical disposition as second class citizens. If you disagree, perhaps you have reasons to unravel, convenient excuses we have learned about freedom and equal representation in Problems of American Democracy.

Sad, isn’t it, the assertion from the sacred documents of our country that is far from reality? And at the end of the day, we intone the patriotic phrase “and crown thy good, with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.”

Finally, the mess at Wall Street that has now found its way into Main Street started by predatory politicians on Capitol Hill who boasted that everything is fine. These are the folks who were direct beneficiaries of bankrupt banks, financing firms, Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae. Each must be investigated to the full extent of the law, their names displayed in banner headlines, full film clips as handcuffs are placed around their wrists and another full view of the cells as metal doors are slammed shut for lifetime. Call it the epitome of corruption at the highest level.