Incoherent federal polices for territories

At Issue: Incoherent and discriminatory policies of the federal government on flag territories.

Our View: Such purposeful misgivings have eroded public trust of bureaucrats at the nation’s capital.

In recent years, we have seen how the federal government sets policies that are far from coherent in the manner it deals with flag territories with similar economic conditions.

For instance, the US Department of Interior successfully pushed for the granting of an industry wage system for American Samoa while it advocated a federal takeover of the CNMI.

Interesting how it sees fit that American Samoa is given an industry wage to protect its industries including garment manufacturing. Interior isn’t keen to seeking the same set of laws for the CNMI so there’s equal protection of local industries and a continuity of current investments.

We can’t understand the obvious incoherence in policies where one is favored while the other, in this case, the CNMI gets the short end of the stick for successfully building an apparel industry perceived by the textile labor unions as a threat to its survival.

Has the labor unions and its obedient pet tigers in the US Congress done the same for states throughout the country that have successfully created wealth and jobs for their constituency? That California, the capital of textile manufacturing, sees threats looming south of the border after losing protection against NAFTA and GATT isn’t a reason to engage in the permanent destruction of the CNMI’s economy to protect its union employees.

The feds need to get its act together in the formulation of policy matters fully wary that it becomes the very culprit in the unequal application of policies we view as subtle economic sanctions to ensure that we genuflect to the whims of monied textile labor unions. The perpetuation of the perception that the CNMI is a foreign country in this instance only erodes the trust and confidence we have in the ability of the federal government, specifically, those attached to the administration as incapable of ascertaining fair and thoroughly considered policies for flag territories.

In fact, more often than not the governance of flag territories who would be adversely affected by ill-conceived federal policies have hardly been asked for their sentiments. It’s a simple embrace of special interest groups without regard to our sentiments. As such, the CNMI is robbed of its aspiration to proactively engage in jobs and wealth creation so often trumpeted by the Clinton administration.

For once, the federal government must address and resolve incoherent policies that have prompted local leadership to quiz if we matter at all as US Citizens situated outside mainstream America. Si Yuus Maase`!