Un-representative democracy

In his first inaugural address, President Ronald Reagan concluded his speech by reminding the American people that “the federal government did not create the States; the States created the federal government.” In so doing, President Reagan clearly reminded all Americans that “We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around.”

Officials in Washington have forgotten the lessons of Ronald Reagan. When it comes to addressing the CNMI, the U.S. Democrats apparently think that the federal government created the CNMI. They treat the CNMI as exclusive federal property, to be regulated however they see fit–regardless of the consent of the governed.

Although the Northern Marianas did not create the federal government, Reagan’s wisdom clearly applies here as well. Government, in order to be just, must be expressly made by the consent of the governed. Any other arrangement would basically amount to tyranny.

The federal government does not “own” the CNMI, and the CNMI certainly does not own the United States’ federal government. We are joined together in a special relationship enshrined in the Covenant Agreement, made by mutual consent.

For the United States to unilaterally impose federal labor and immigration “controls” upon our islands–this would be a devastating betrayal of democratic principles and fundamental American values. The Northern Marianas should be governed by its own people, rather than by the U.S. Interior Department, for the benefit of the U.S.
Democrats, in compensation for political campaign contributions made by American textile labor unions eager to destroy their market competition: our heavily-regulated, much scrutinized, OSHA inspected garment factories.

When Hawaii Senator Danny Akaka says that he speaks as “a friend and neighbor” when he says that “conditions in the CNMI must change,” he needs to remember that he is no friend of the CNMI. No CNMI leader looks to him as a friend. Instead, they look to him as an oppressor–as someone who would rob us of our local self-government.

Danny Akaka, George Miller, David North, Al Stayman, Bruce Babbitt–none of these men represent the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. They are hostile to our interests. The CNMI has no representation in any branch of the U.S. government.

Still, this does not stop any of our hardened detractors from desperately trying to take over.

Fortunately, we still have fair men like Chairman Don Young, who recently declared that “….The Marianas…is not just a piece of property–this is a community of U.S. citizens” [though politically disenfranchised at that].