Fight the takeover!
The CNMI House of Representatives should be applauded for moving to hire a lobbying firm to defend our rights to local self-government. At a time when the U.S. Senate recently passed a federal takeover bill, the CNMI can no longer afford to be complacent. We need to be pro-active and aggressive–as aggressive as any of our detractors, who are striving so hard to ruin us.
Representative Juan Nekai Babauta has not done enough. This administration has not done enough. The Saipan Chamber of Commerce has not done enough. Even the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association has not done nearly enough. We need to do much more for the CNMI.
All of us need to do more to safeguard our fragile economy and our local self-government. All of us need to make an all-out effort, not just our local businessmen and politicians. Our very way of life is at stake.
Although we have no vote in the U.S. Congress or in the White House, there are still ways of conveying our message directly to the American people. We need to harness the power of the American media. We need to write letters to American newspapers, as former Interior employee David North has done. We, as students and citizens, need to actively protest the federal takeover agenda.
We need to have a galvanized, organized movement. We need to be much more active and animated. We need to demonstrate our genuine concern to the American people and their leaders.
Conscientious students from Hopwood, Mount Carmel, Marianas Baptist, Grace Christian Academy, and the Northern Marianas College, for example, should take the time to protest in front of the Horiguchi Building. Our students need to send letters, faxes and e-mails to members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The government and the private sector should stop entertaining U.S. Office of Insular Affairs officials. Field Rep. Jeff Schorr should no longer be invited to various functions.
We must write to Hawaii Senator Daniel Akaka. We should tell this Democrat exactly how we feel: that he is no friend of the CNMI–that he does not represent our islands. Senator Akaka can be reached at Senator@akaka.senate.gov. His office number is (202) 224-6361. We also need to contact other U.S. leaders and tell them the truth about our islands.
CNMI citizens and students living in Hawaii should protest in front of Senator Akaka’s office in Hawaii and gain some media attention. We need to employ some of the tactics of the labor unions that oppose us.
Above all, we need to actively support U.S. political candidates and incumbents who might be friendly to our political and economic interests–American politicians who believe in limited government, local self-government, free trade, and free enterprise: leaders such as Representative Tom DeLay, for example.
Texas Governor George W. Bush might be just such a candidate. Yet, so far, only three CNMI residents have contributed less than $3,000 to the Bush presidential campaign. For our own sake, we need to contribute more, via credit card, at www.georgewbush.com. Whether it be $10, $20, $50, or $100 or more–we should contribute some financial support to the Bush campaign.
We must all constantly strive to fight the federal takeover by doing more than we have everdone before. Biba Marianas!
