Kudos

I was truly glad to see Nola Hix and other leaders of the CNMI starting a real protest against all the things that are going wrong with our government. For sure, I have been writing about and complaining about all the things they mentioned that are of major concerns to many citizens living in the CNMI. Hix was right to say that “people should rise up,” which is only half of the solution to the problem because the bigger part of the problem and challenge is purely political! If our government is truly the real problem, then the answer to fixing this problem can only be political!

Unlike, Mrs. Hix, I don’t have to play the game of being “politically correct” when it comes to these demonstrations and the need for political change. But what caught my attention was one commenter who seemed to want to keep the protest non-political. Well, the people who don’t think this is or should be a political game don’t really understand the problem because it is the “politics” of our governor and his party that is the problem. There is no way to avoid the political aspect of the real problem, which is a need to “fix our government” with the proper checks and balances between our Legislature and our governor. So, if we truly want to stop our runaway government that is full of “abuses of power, nepotism, corruption, racism, and a host of other bad attributes” and make it work properly, we need to find the political answer to the problem. If we have a political problem, logic dictates a political solution.

The fact is our democracy is dead and we need to find a political solution to revive our democracy. As for the commenter who seems to think I am playing some kind of political game, they sound like a GOP emissary even if they aren’t trying to a put a spin on the protest as to how it should not be political! FYI, this is not a game; this is real life, with real consequences. But most importantly, of all the attacks and character assassination attempts made on me, no one has ever been able to call me a liar! So, truth is what it is and disagreeing with it or putting a spin on it still won’t change the fact that it was the truth!

It is truly “time to take action” like Mrs. Hix said and I must commend her and the others for getting something started and we the people must keep up as I will certainly be attending! But what action(s) beyond protesting is the real question that needs to be answered. Rising up and complaining alone is not going to fix our government as our situation requires new leaders and for existing leaders to unify the majority of voters to fix the problem. We need a unified position as well as a unified leadership because if we don’t achieve the two primary goals of unification as voters and leaders, the GOP will win again and we will lose!

I was truly glad to see Independents and Democrats at the protest together but if Independents and Democrats don’t join forces as a party, they will simply cancel each other out in the voting booth and our governor and the GOP will win again. This is basic political science.

Our governor also knows that voters have short memories and he is also making a safe bet that our economy will start to turn around before election season, which somehow seems to happen entirely too often. The governor is counting on voters to do just like they did in his last election by saying to themselves: “Let him finish what he started.” So we the people need to keep meeting on austerity Fridays and to build our numbers by telling a friend to tell another friend to join in the movement for change led by Mrs. Hix, our Washington delegate and Independents. Do like Dr. King taught us in the civil rights movement: “Keep our eyes on the prize and everyday is a day-on until the battle has been won” (until our government is fixed and working properly). I would also like to share some of the positive comments and one more negative comment that were posted to the article on Mrs. Hix:

• I am glad people are finding the courage and speaking out now. Hopefully, something good comes out of this.
• Impeach the governor, lieutenant governor, the entire Legislature. The feds are waiting for the CNMI to implode so they can take over!
• Yes, rise up, CNMI 🧡🏝💚
• Government of NMDs, by NMDs and for NMDs. Racism does exist in the CNMI. Last I heard, this is a government of, for, and by all the people living and voting in the CNMI, not just for locals.

I pray Mrs. Hix and the rest will continue to take this political fight for all the people in the CNMI. Kudos and keep it up, Independents and Democrats, because unity is the only way to take down this GOP government.

Ambrose M Bennett
Kagman, Saipan