Turning your back on the people

Last year, I was truly honored to be a part of the Republican National Convention and be witness to the induction of the CNMI into the National GOP as well as to watch the nomination of President George W. Bush. However, the amendment to include the CNMI was not passed without a fight. In fact the main proponent of the amendment, Aumua Amata Coleman from American Samoa, fought off harsh critics of the CNMI. She fought on the basis of fairness and democratic values, because it was neither fair nor democratic that the CNMI be excluded from the National GOP while other territories like Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico claim membership. I nearly cried when the amendment was passed by an overwhelming majority of RNC members. With the admission of the CNMI, the National GOP once again emphasized its great ideals of equality and democratic values.

Ironically, the Local GOP seems to take a pass on these ideals. Apparently, equality and democratic values only matter when it benefits the stalwarts of the party. People should not be fooled about the “committee” that was formed to study the credentials of the candidates. The decision to ultimately nominate the Governor and Lt. Governor as the standard bearers of the party came down from party leaders who have a clear conflict of interest. The plain truth is that in EVERY state, the state party always holds a primary when there is more than one major candidate. The Local GOP’s decision to exclude Heinz Hofschneider and David Apatang sends a strong message to the CNMI that it is a party run by a few and not by the people. Even George W. Bush had to go through a primary in every state to be nominated as the Republican presidential candidate. Why? Quite simply because it is a part of the party’s democratic values. It realizes that the average Joe had as much of a right to be on the ballot as the President of the United States. More importantly, it realized that the people had to decide whether they wanted Bush as their nominee in 2004. They didn’t meet in secret one day and decide that they were going to anoint Bush to become the nominee.

Another thing that irked me about the Local GOP’s decision to exclude Hofschneider and Apatang was that it was based on the fact that “Apatang was not a Republican.” Well, someone should tell the Local GOP that they have yet to come up with a Republican membership registry where people can register to become a Republican. If their reasoning is upheld, who if anyone, is credentialed to become the Republican nominee? Unless you’re a member of the National GOP, you can’t call yourself a Republican in the CNMI. I wonder if the Governor and Lt. Governor are registered as members of the Local GOP. I guess it’s a good thing I’m a card-carrying Republican.

I used to be proud to call myself a Republican in the CNMI. But today, what is there to be proud of? How does anyone expect there to be unity within the GOP when its nominee was decided in the most undemocratic way?

Roman T. Palacios Jr.
George Washington University
Washington, DC
Registered Republican*
(*)Registered in the US.