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Leadership in New Millennium
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Posted on Oct 13 2000
The Issue: Selecting leadership with vision and commitment to guide the NMI in this millennium.
Our View: We agree with Speaker Ben Fitial’s assessment about the need for quality leadership.
The challenge of visibility on Capitol Hill (Washington) is enormous. Many of our friends who are familiar with the Covenant Agreement have since expired or retired from the US Congress.
NMI champions such as the late Congressman Phil Burton and Senator J. Bennett Johnson are no longer around to guard the very law they have pushed through both chambers in 1975.
The task of educating the more than 600 members of Congress is monumental. Many have never even heard of these isles or that we are a part of the greater American Community.
Even Guam’s Non-Voting Delegate Robert Underwood must occasionally preface his statements on proposals (before committees and on the floor of the US House of Representatives) by taking his colleagues through an educational tour.
We have sought for the opportunity of representation even at the lowest end of the totem pole to no avail. We were shot down with representation issues, including comparisons with the most populated cities across the country.
Even with the odds against us (from their perspective) we yearn for the day when representation in the US Congress would descend on these isles. Yes, we understand the complexity and enormity of dealing with the most powerful center of government the world over. The greater question is: In the absence of representation, how do we go about making this American Archipelago visible and understood on Capitol Hill? Better yet, when would we ever be made to feel a true member of the American political family?
This task will require greater resolve than just knee jerk commitments. We must visit Capitol Hill more often than we used to in recent past. We must consistently express our views however inaudible our tiny voices may be.
Lest we forget, freedom and justice are earned and are only rewarded to those who sacrifice and fight for them almost endlessly. And it requires a vital equation: Leadership with vision and commitment. Si Yuus Maase`!
