Vote or else you know what!
The truth is we the people need to get out and vote even though this is a midterm election it is still critical to our very future and quality of life. Statistical data has proven that the lower the voter turnout can be equated to the very quality of government as it is directly tied to having an accountable government. If we don’t hold those in office accountable on election day then we have not done our job, as citizens have a fiduciary duty to “be informed and vote. So, if you are one who gets in the voting booth and doesn’t know who someone is, it can be a good sign not to vote for them or a bad sign that you didn’t do your homework as a voter.
At the very top of the ballot is the delegate race, which will determine our future in Washington and I don’t have to tell anyone how important our fathers in Washington, D.C. (U.S. Congress) are to the CNMI. This is one election we as people can’t mess up and it is going to take real votes to make sure our future in Washington remains bright with the right person replacing Kilili—Propst. But there are also the down ballot races that will determine what happens on Capitol Hill for the people and even the race for president, as there are many local people in the mainland who will be voting for president. Be it local or the mational races, it should be clear that Democrats should be first and foremost in their minds and hearts to vote for, as Chamorros and Carolinians are people of color who would have gone to school with me. So, locals are highly respected by the Democrat Party—the people’s party, unlike the Republican Party that are you know what when it comes to people of color.
But unlike the Democrats on the mainland, our Democrats are still falling short when it comes to having a “full slate of candidates,” which is one of the main reasons we can’t get a liberal Democrat legislature and governor that we need badly to improve the CNMI. If you are sick and tired of our government then get mad at the Republicans who have been in control for the past two decades—heller! We have allowed the GOP conservatism to all but kill our economy and decimated the quality of life and Trump Jr. Ralp proved it! We are no better off than we were 20 years ago and continuing to decline in virtually every walk of life. The only thing being improved that we can see, touch or feel are the streets that is mostly funded by the feds, as the quality of food has declined with us eating New Zealand beef when we are supposed to have a slaughter house on Tinian by now, the cost of living has continued to increase while austerity and taxes are the only plan of Republicans which includes the governor who is really a Republican too. I could go on and on with examples of our decline, but I think most readers will agree we are going backwards, not going forward and still no economic recovery plan. Oh, there are those productive 902 talks but I’m sure most of us with common sense want to see the actual product(s) from these productive talks, if any and I pray we don’t get gaslighted!
Voter turnout is key in this election as the Republican base is going to show up and to not go and vote will be like a “gift card” to the very group of politicians who got us into the economic mess and don’t have a clue as to how to get us out of this mess—they are not economist and too you-know-what to hire one, it is truly pathetic in this day and age of professionalism and expertise problem-solving. We must begin to turn the page and make sure the writing on the next page will be liberal agendas by and for the people with independents and Democrats and not by and for Republicans—it’s just that simple.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an economist who minored in sociology, political scientist, a retired teacher, and former CNMI Board of Education member, a James Madison Fellow (U.S. constitutional scholar), a Fulbright-Hays and lifetime humanities scholar who resides in Kagman III in the CNMI.
