The CNMI’s progressive conservative challenge

Back in 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton wrote a critical letter to Froilan C. Tenorio, our governor at the time. In his arrogant “Dear Froilan” letter, Clinton unilaterally assumed a Federal takeover of our islands. Without so much as the approval of the U.S. Congress, Clinton told then Governor Froilan Tenorio how to proceed with the immediate application of a US Federal takeover.

Back in 1997, we had a liberal American president trying to impose his Big Government agenda upon a conservative CNMI governor who steadfastly believed in maximum local self-government. Clinton, the liberal American president, would have prevailed over the local CNMI conservative had it not been for a sympathetic, conservative-controlled U.S. Congress (particularly in the US House of Representatives).

In other words, Bill Clinton would have had his intrusive Big Government way had it not been for a critical event in 1994: For the first time in some 40 years, conservative Republicans took control of the U.S. Congress. President Clinton was so stunned and confused that he actually proclaimed the “era of Big Government” to be over. Of course, as with many other matters, President Clinton really did not mean it, particularly where the CNMI’s local self-determination was concerned.

Today, however, the CNMI is fortunate because Bill Clinton’s liberal Big Government agenda no longer poses such a formidable threat. At the moment, with conservative Republican control of the White House, the US Congress and the US Supreme Court, the American conservative movement is on the move. The CNMI no longer has to fear the US Department of Interior. Freedom, limited government, states rights, fiscal responsibility, and pro-growth policies are once again popular in Washington, DC.

For the CNMI–at least for the time being–the problem is no longer the US Federal government. For the CNMI, the potential problem is the CNMI itself: the liberal, left-wing, statist protectionists within our own borders. The biggest question before the CNMI, which will be decided in our upcoming November elections, is this: Can we follow America’s pro-freedom, pro-market, limited government, states rights conservative lead?

When the ballots are counted after the November general election, will we elect a conservative or liberal CNMI governor? And if we elect a liberal Big Government type, would we essentially “Federalize” ourselves by further cracking down on economic investment and growth? With the wrong kind of leaders, the CNMI may well raise its own wages and curb its own vital labor supply.

Not all of our gubernatorial candidates are bona fide conservatives. Not all of our gubernatorial candidates have good working relationships with influential conservative leaders in the United States. The CNMI electorate must therefore choose very carefully. The CNMI would not be well served by electing a protectionist liberal Democrat at a time when America and the rest of the world are relentlessly moving toward more freedom and more global free trade.

Perhaps one day the era of Big Government might finally be over.

Strictly a personal view. Charles Reyes Jr. is a regular columnist of Saipan Tribune. Mr. Reyes may be reached at charlesraves@hotmail.com