Truth 69: It is done—kudos & thanks!
The truth of the matter is we had a fair election, and the decision has been made for us going forward and it is imperative that we all accept the fact that it is done and move on. Kudos to the winners starting with our delegate-elect Kimberlyn King-Hinds, senator-elect Manny Castro and the many others who won, as the people have chosen you and we are all praying for you to be successful on behalf of the people. As VP Harris said, “it is OK to feel sad and disappointed but it’s going to be OK” and I would like to add a genuine thanks to those who tried and lost. Our democracy is strong and has withstood the test of time and hardships and having new and different leaders does not mean “the world is going to end.” For those who are rejoicing don’t forget the politics are over, as real work must now begin. No bragging, as only time will tell the final story on our choices.
With our economy being at the top of the list of our delegate for the people, I think it is all important that the governor does his job to help our new delegate unlike the fragile and sometimes nonexistent relationship between Kilili and previous governors. Just as we are taught in church that “we must make the first step and then God will make two,” this is also true when it comes to our relationship with our fathers in Washington. In other words, the earnest for our economy is still on the governor, as our delegate can only ask Congress to make two steps for something to help our economy after the governor makes the first step, as our delegate can’t fix our economy by herself. It must be a team effort to deal with our fathers in Washington that is truly a give-and-take relationship which we learned the hard way with immigrations being taken away from the CNMI. It is also the fact and critical to our success that our politics in the CNMI be on the same page with our new delegate, unlike it was with Kilili and previous governors. This is really an opportunity to establish a real game plan for our economic recovery but if the governor doesn’t do his part, then our delegate will surely be challenged when it comes to generating economic recovery efforts and funding beyond what Kilili had done.
As for our new legislature members, it is a new day for the CNMI and the people and hopefully you will reset the efforts of the Legislature to really tackle problems and solve them beyond the on-it game of safe politics that has prevailed for entirely too long. As the Romans say, “fortune favors the brave” and not politicians who are afraid to speak-out and really do something for the people. Fixing the CNMI’s economy and improving the quality of our social life is a daunting task that can only be accomplished through genuine planning and the fortitude to carry it out, as too long our legislature has just remained silent on issues and doing nothing until election season. We the people need bills and laws to fix things like the Commonwealth Cannabis Commission and the Commonwealth Casino Commission that need to be resolved for many obvious and commonly known reasons, yet they still exist. It’s time to really do something as Michell says and let go of the past practices of safe do-nothing politics.
I’ve said this before that greatness can only be achieved when the opportunity presents itself, and given our economy it’s obvious the opportunity for greatness is all around us. The question is who has the desire and fortitude to want to do great things for the CNMI and the people or was it just about you ‘sitting as locals say. It is no more about sitting but about doing the real work for the people and it is not all on the governor to find new revenue sources for the people but every elected representative and senator to do their due diligence to help find new revenue sources and stop continuing to raise taxes that only puts the burden on the people when it’s really your responsibility to fix it! God bless everyone who ran in this past election and godspeed to those who won, as we the people need you to be great politicians this time around if we are to ever fix our economy and improve our quality of life.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an economist who minored in sociology, political scientist, a retired teacher, and former CNMI Board of Education member, a James Madison Fellow (U.S. constitutional scholar), a Fulbright-Hays and lifetime humanities scholar who resides in Kagman III in the CNMI.
