Takeover isn’t the answer

The current debate on federal takeover of these isles isn’t the answer. Reviewing and advocating proactive and stable federal and local policies to encourage lasting investments are better alternatives in the resolution of the current controversy.

It would mean less grant funds from US taxpayers (who also need their money) to rebuild from natural disasters, rebooting depressed communities or reinvestment in people to enable them to learn lifetime skills. It leaves the role of government in the hands of the governance where it rightfully belongs.

To embrace the notion of Uncle Tom riding into town to rectify what he views as errors in the exercise of self-government is to perpetuate neo-colonialism unnecessarily. Such an agenda definitely runs against the grain and essence of the very self-government so guaranteed under the Covenant Agreement. It opens up unwarranted opportunities for mediocre and power greedy federal bureaucrats (without any sense of history) to change boat in midstream on policy matters often without securing local sentiment. We need not look any further than Interior’s sterling record of failure to “assist the NMI attain a higher standard of living” over the last 37 years.

In the whirlwind of this controversy, we need to collectively review issues with a journalistic mind set to see, in full view, where both sides of the Pacific may have erred or neglected its fiduciary responsiblity. It would allow US lawmakers the opportunity to ascertain that federal agencies stick to law enforcement over the presumptuous assumption of policymaking solely reserved for the national legislature. This destructive federal agency interference in the exercise of self-government has no place in strengthening our democratic institutions through the governance.

It would also be prudent to review what the lead federal agency has done to ensure equal application of President Clinton’s economic policy on wealth and jobs creation so that the CNMI isn’t “left behind”. Washington must once and for all abolish such policy of selective exclusion for it breeds injustice, dismination of minorities and inequality among US Citizens across the land. After all, the CNMI is part of the so-called “American political family” and like any other community across the country, rightfully deserves the grand opportunity to be allowed assimilation into the greater American Economic Community.

Finally, Washington must descend on an issue it often neglects to view with understanding and appreciation: the gulf in the economic systems between a powerful industrialized and hi-tech mother country vs. the fragile economy of a resource-poor archipelago. With a commitment to review these issues with a journalistic mind set, both sides of the Pacific should be well on their way to forging lasting partnership, credence and meaning to the very essence and principles for which our mother country was founded over 200 years ago. Si Yuus Maase`!