Feds just never learn

As expected, officials of the Clinton administration testified that they want to control federal policy on labor and immigration. The theme seem to revolve around the so-called “equal application” of these laws even without an impact study.

In a teleconference, combined federal agencies from the US Department of Interior, Labor and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) expressed the resounding agenda of a federal takeover of labor and immigration.

How sad that even as we prepare to meet the challenges of the new millennium, there’s the obvious mentality among detractors to perpetuate neo-colonialism in the islands in absentia without regard to an elected self-government. It’s a quick fix that would turn the democratic process on its head.

In short, our detractors are bent on suppressing our political and economic freedoms by trashing our interest in favor of piling up more government layers over what we already have built in these islands.

We’ve asked why can’t equal application of policy be implemented throughout insular areas, i.e., set of policies for American Samoa. The jerky answer is that American Samoa is a smaller economy than that of the CNMI. This federal position demonstrates the aged-old mentality that the feds wishes to willfully impose discriminatory policies even in the presence of an elected republican form of government.

Yes, they must have bought time with the employment of the size of the two jurisdictions’ economic base. But the fact remains that they have consistently avoided answering a concern we’ve raised in recent years: equal application of federal policy.

It goes without saying that the feds just never learn to respect the rights of governance in the strengthening of their democratic institutions. Obviously, they much prefer lording over the fate of the people of these isles. How sad that such view only shows that they haven’t grown-up in the way we’ve dealt with the same issues which include triumphs and unintentional failures that come with the territory of incipiency or developmental problems.

This is the obvious view of social democrats who are convinced that better education, health, economic foundation, innovation, among others, emanate from the huge bureaucracy in Washington. Such was, is and never will be the case. Innovations, be it in the free enterprise system and other substantive advancement in technology that has benefited mankind had their humble beginnings in the various states.

Until this is seen and understood through our lenses as advocates of political and economic freedom, equality and justice, the agenda of social democrats is best left in the trash bins of the lead federal agency that has braved alleged violation of federal laws using US mainland taxpayers money to permanently ruin the livelihood of this group of US Citizens.

Perhaps President Clinton has told another white lie when he said that the “economic good times” must not “leave anybody behind”. Your administration’s agenda is nothing sort of the latter. We are US Citizens too, Mr. President, and we ask for nothing less.