Reject US representation

The other week I happened to bump into a fellow CNMI resident on Kaheka street in Honolulu, right by the Daiei “Holiday” Mart. The CNMI resident in question was Mr. Ed Diaz.

This is the Ed Diaz who retired from his service at the CNMI sanitation inspection department. He had been visiting his daughter, who lives in Honolulu.

Anyway, Mr. Diaz wanted me to know that he–no doubt, like many other local CNMI residents–was (and is) totally opposed to a U.S. Federal takeover of our islands. We can handle our own local affairs, he maintained. And I had to steadfastly agree: local self-government (representative democracy) is best.

The Federal minimum wage should not be made to apply in the CNMI. It would kill our economy and leave our citizens deeply impoverished. There can be no question on this vital point.

Even the Federal government, which proposes to raise its national minimum wage even further, is only willing to do so through a series of compromises between the two main political parties. That is, in order for the U.S. Republicans to go along with a higher federal minimum wage, the Democrats must agree to accept tax relief (among other trade offs) for small businesses.

And here it is important to note that, since the CNMI retains local control of taxation, any such federal minimum wage compromise would hardly benefit the people of the CNMI. The CNMI would not be represented. The CNMI would get nothing in return.

Mr. Diaz brought up this point about representation in a roundabout way, citing the transparent hypocrisy of Hawaii Senator Danny Akaka. “Why does Senator Akaka support sovereignty rights for native Hawaiians but not for indigenous CNMI residents?” he asked.

Part of the answer, of course, is that Senator Akaka can get votes from his native Hawaiians; he can’t get votes from CNMI residents.

The other part of the answer, possibly, is that our own man, Mr. Juan Nekai Babauta, encouraged Senator Akaka (via political campaign contributions) to embrace a Federal takeover of our islands. “Blame Babauta” should be the new PK slogan.

Akaka is probably also financially supported by labor unions bent on the CNMI’s destruction. Hawaii labor unions are probably miffed because their attempts to unionize the Northern Marianas have largely failed.

The other reason involves the political orientation of the two sovereignty movements: native Hawaiian self-government is welfare state left-wing, CNMI self-government is pro-business right-wing. Senator Akaka is left-wing.

To solve this problem of representation, some pundits have suggested that the CNMI gain representation in the US Congress and the White House. Yet, in reality, this would be a huge mistake. For once we are “represented,” we would lose our rights. We could no longer claim taxation or regulation without representation. The Feds (the rest of the states) would dominate and control us. We would then be subject to the tyranny of the U.S. majority, which would be completely unacceptable. We must decide for ourselves.