Hold that thought

Posted on Jan 11 2009

Kagman resident Jesse Torres purports to lament CNMI residents’ inability to vote in U.S. presidential election contests. Hold for two thoughts, please:

[B]1. No taxation without representation:[/B] These words, said 8th grade social studies teacher Bill Cromie, fomented the American Revolution. In the case of CNMI residents like Mr. Torres, they might instead be read “No representation without taxation”—given, that is, the fact that CNMI residents (like Guam residents) pay zero U.S. taxes yet receive more per capita federal expenditure of U.S. tax dollars paid by U.S. citizens than any state in the U.S. OF course, the right to vote in U.S. presidential elections is extended to Mr. Torres and all others who reside within the U.S. where they are then obligated to pay U.S. taxes. Question: Do CNMI and Guam governmental officials, employees, and students living in Hawaii, Washington D.C., and elsewhere on the U.S. mainland, pay their U.S. taxes?

[B]2. Race-based rights:[/B] Of course Mr. Torres and others of MP descent feel wholly justified in excluding others lacking ostensible blood of NMI descent from owning CNMI real estate. This as they may themselves jet off to Guam to purchase and own land from their Guam-situated MP-blooded cousins who are prohibited from owning CNMI land, or to the U.S. to purchase and own land from taxpaying, financially subsidizing U.S. citizens, in explicit violation of U.S. equal rights purportedly binding upon and within the CNMI pursuant to the Covenant. These, of course, are the same MP folk who seek and receive from the U.S. and its many institutions grant and scholarship funding based on reputed “minority” status characterized by “affirmative action” as they themselves at home as the minority populace within the CNMI affirmatively preclude others from owning CNMI lands.

I last saw and spoke with Bill Cromie around 1971, but there’s likely a CNMI situated 8th grade teacher who can provide further details/insight if Mr. Torres and others of MP descent are interested. If not, there’s certain to be some 8th grade graduates.

[B]Bruce Jorgensen[/B] [I]Washington D.C.[/I]

Moving forward

Does the NMI have a problem with its foreign investment image?

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