Disenfranchised people and their bucket list

I use to think we mainland Americans were the only disenfranchised people when it comes to representation in the Legislature as they have never enacted a law on Capital Hill since the conception of the CNMI to help level the playing field for all U. S. citizens in the CNMI. Now they are doing it to their own people by not even giving them the opportunity to vote on a law that will directly affect the economy and private landowners whose right to free enterprise is clearly being violated and still in conflict with our federal Constitution. I couldn’t believe it when I heard what they had done.

You would think that private landowners would be crying bloody murder because they should actually have the right to do whatever they want to with their private land except sell it to a foreigner or foreign government. If the indigenous people don’t want to sell their land to anyone other than a local that’s their right but to deny them the right to sell land to fellow U. S. citizens is wrong. Private landowners should developing their land, putting up their own subdivision signs on these big lots, as opposed to trying to lease land that the average person and investor will not lease regardless of the years. The government has disenfranchised its own people from the free enterprise system and won’t even give them a voice and continues to promote the disenfranchisement of fellow U. S. citizens from the mainland.

The people who voted against the extension can’t totally understand the magnitude of the politics they are promoting, which is a future conflict with the federal government over landownership. It would have been great and even ingenious if they voted against the bill because they were working on something better than the temporary band-aid solution of extending leases but people know they weren’t working on such a plan.

The Obama administration has already promised an “era of reforms” and given our poor social, economic and political situation we also need to be thinking about an era of reforms and get rid of the band-aids and fix the problem permanently. The Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress are not going to sit still for U. S. citizens being disenfranchised and their constitutional rights being violated in the CNMI. The old school of partisan politics will clearly come to an end in Washington on Jan. 20th and the old school politics of partisan indigenous status quo is also at the end of its road. Some just don’t see the end coming because reform means to change and that is something our Legislature has proven they can’t do. President Obama will be about change so where does that leave some of our politicians and the CNMI? I can easily see and predict a major question in the next election for every candidate to office will be “Are you for or against reforming the Land Alienation Act?” I’m sure those against it will get a rude awakening, especially if majority of people are already awake and aware of the importance of rectifying this conflict with federal law.

I’m not going to mention the names of the people that voted against the extension of the land leases because they are already public knowledge and I have lived here long enough to know it won’t matter anyway because they won’t be held accountable. The sad part for me is that I truly like and admire some of them—they just made the wrong choice. But I hope this letter will help them rectify their mistake because Article XII is the real hurdle we must leap over.

The leasing of land hasn’t proven to be totally successfully or a perpetual solution over the past 30 years and it seems it will take the Feds again before our Legislature as a whole gets it. Given the present attitude of our leaders—and if it doesn’t change—I can easily predict and promise, like I have done with so many other issues, that “the CNMI will experience another wave of federalization on land” if there isn’t any equality created in land ownership by the 2011 election. The records of the Covenant negotiation will certify the “warnings given to the CNMI by the federal government to rectify our constitutional conflict with the federal Constitution”—so you don’t have to take my word. Didn’t we learn anything from refusing to raise wages and refusing to limit the importation of alien workers?

Our record at this point in our economic downturn and the fight with the federal government is “no hits” (nothing done or accomplished), “no runs” (no one is leading the way to prosperity and no working relationship with federal officials) and “no one on base” (nothing positive going for us in Washington or economically). Since they love baseball so much on the Hill and continue to disenfranchise the other kids who don’t play baseball I thought this example might just get their attention. Change is coming and our Legislature had better get a new attitude or suffer the consequences because the people are tired of your disrespectful ways and paying for your mistakes!

I want to extend a sincere appreciation to Rep. Tina Sablan and the others who voted in the affirmative. As for the Bucket List, I would advise every voting citizen to start creating their own Bucket List like I do and a certain judge I know. Every time a representative in government does something you like or dislike just put it on a note and put it in an old coffee container or write it on a note pad until it’s time for you to vote. I guarantee it will help you eliminate some of those who might have ordinarily gotten your vote because they are depending on our memories to become distorted with the many other issues to get re-elected. So start your own Bucket List and we will have a better government after the next election.

I can guarantee the smarter we are as voters the better our government will be so keep a record and start holding the voice that represents you on Capital Hill accountable! To those who do write opinion letters in the news, please support the Bucket List because once they know we are truly watching and keeping records, they will change or we will surely get rid of them.