Find a weapon and fight!

Believe it or not, much of how we are perceived in Washington is centered on the title of this letter—a people led by a government who looks for a weapon to fight the federal government. The discovery of potential Compact funds to help restructure our economy is very interesting and seems to have the potential of being the “real McCoy” at a time when we need it most. My mother used to tell me that people are always looking for a gold mine only to discover they were standing on it. Well it seems we have been doing just that if the legalities over the Compact funds discovery hold true. But my concern is the political approach to certifying the discovery and claiming a right to the funds, which is FIGHTING. The true and great politicians have all MASTERED the “art of diplomacy” but it seems to be very hard to get that point across to our chief executive. The better diplomats we become the better our chances of influencing legislation and being successful in Washington.

I have been trying for years to convince some of our political leaders to allow me to help them with their “political and economic strategies” but everyone knows the wall of “Social Imperialism” is in my way because I’m not local and they would NEVER let me get that kind of clout to influence political and economic decisions. So I’ll just keep showing them and the people that I am ahead of times and their outdated politics on Capital Hill and maybe ONE will realize they need my help—they don’t know the game or the rules of national politics—just fighting. I say this because of the many educational, political, and economic predictions that I have made which became a reality and now I’m about to offer another prediction that will come true and I still haven’t gotten one thank you. But I do this for the people and not so much for the politicians and educators who like to STEAL my ideas and pretend its their own—so here goes.

The idea of filing another lawsuit in the present political atmosphere is absolutely ludicrous because it still presents the same attitude of fighting the federal government and we don’t even have the means to fight. The job of our government is to hold the federal government “accountable” for their actions through collaboration and not to fight over the implementation of federal laws. Our Commonwealth government by design is and has always been in a position to have diplomacy work to our advantage through the United Nations. The “unique” status that our politicians have provoked was first recognized by the United Nations—not the United States and I submit that the UN is still the best governing entity to fight for our Constitutional Rights. The Feds will HAVE TO listen to the UN because our delegate can only create “background noise” which is easily muffled in Washington. Taking our case for the Compact funds to UN will put us on Front Street with the Feds—if you get my meaning but we must also “own up to our mistakes as the basis of the federal government’s arguments will be Its OUR OWN FAULT and to a large degree the feds will be RIGHT! If we want to fight for the Compact funds, take our concerns to the UN as we don’t have a “vote” in Congress nor a Senate Seat. Don’t try to fight the Feds ALONE on their own turf in Congress and especially when we haven’t capitulated for our own mistakes. The power plays we are trying to make are examples of horrible politics.

I know someone may snatch this idea to seek help from the UN just like the recent request by Jose Dela Cruz for an economic summit and the governor’s desire to support the summit reminds me of the true source of our political problem—social imperialism. I have been asking for an economic taskforce and summit with the U.S. since the Babauta administration and not one ounce of support but the moment a local person offers the same suggestion there is support. I’m not jealous just stating the facts and I’m sure people with common sense can connect the dots to the wall of social imperialism that will yield the same old results—nothing.

Our new delegate is now going off to Washington “without a unified stance on federalization” just as I predicted. The Feds just requested the courts to dismiss the governor’s lawsuit because it is clearly not representative of the people’s desire and it is also “speculative and hypothetical,” which is the same reasons I stated when the law suite was first brought up—I said “we can’t file a law suite for something that hasn’t taken place” and now my argument is also supported by the federal government—duh! We are experiencing the backlash of our own failure now and not the feds implementation of federalization. Now another idea for a lawsuit has surfaced. We keep sending the signal to Washington that “we are looking for a weapon to fight the feds with” and the pattern of our fighting is clearly documented dating back to the Froilan administration. I can also guarantee this administration “WILL NOT” appoint the necessary and proper people for the summit based on their economic and political abilities but their POLITICS. Our leaders should take note of our new president’s decisions to appoint people based more on merit than politics. If the economic summit is composed of the “same old people and mentality” that contributed to create this economic mess then we know what the outcome will be the SOS (Same Old S*&#). You can’t fix a problem with the same mentality that caused it—Albert Einstien.

When will our leaders become real politicians with diplomatic skills and use the tools of principles and values for which there is “NO DEFENSE.” Given the name calling and some of the outrageous statements coming from the executive office about the Feds and some of those in the Legislature, I don’t think many of our leaders really understand the importance and magnitude of remaining professional and using the tools of diplomacy given to us by our founders to govern over our democracy. Our representation in Congress has always been an “insult” to the core Democratic values and the principle of Republicanism. But we (the CNMI) used the lack of equal representation for an excuse to fight against the feds and have never approached the challenge of changing our status from an intellectual approach. We never really fought for representation in Congress and used it for an excuse to create more enmity by giving the impression of using representation for a weapon (reason) to fight with instead of addressing the true source of the problem.

We only have representation in Congress now because of a “brokered deal” over federalization which I see as nothing more than “tokenism” without a vote. The only legitimate fight we have is the right to vote in Congress and for the president but we created an oxymoron of our own politics for “equal rights and representation” when we cry “unfair equal representation and voting rights” yet hide behind a flag of “uniqueness & Covenant specialties.” It is more our own fault than the feds as we have never really tried real diplomacy which is why we have witnessed the endless power plays that begin with lobbyist and now we have lawsuits, criminal investigations, and federal laws to deal with—power plays with no diplomacy. Strangely enough, I have been subjected to same mentality of “picking up a stick” by our Board and previous COE so I can attest to the mentality of the old school politics on a first hand basis. It is clear our relationship with the Feds is not getting better but worst and we MUST take the first steps to change these conditions as a united people and a united government. One people, one direction to end the fighting and become better diplomats