By Zaldy Dandan
Variety Editor

WHEN the Gipper declared in his first inaugural address that “In this present crisis, we must not look to government to solve our problems. Government is the problem,” some of his opponents claimed that his rhetoric was an overstatement. Maybe. (Although he also later said that, “it is not my intention to do away with government. It is, rather, to make it work — work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back.)
However, if President Reagan’s assessment is applied to the CNMI today, no one in his right mind would disagree.
It was also America’s 40th president who said that “the problem is not that people are taxed too little — the problem is that government spends too much.” And again, I dare anyone in the CNMI who considers himself intellectually honest to say that it’s not the problem here.
This is not about promoting right-wing politics or conservative ideology. In this worsening crisis, scoring political points or pushing political agendas should be the least of our concerns precisely because they mean absolutely nothing to the average citizen out there who continues to suffer without even the consoling thought that his condition will soon improve. It won’t. Not if we don’t change the terms, so to speak, of the current debate regarding this crisis.
The unspoken assumption is that the CNMI government has to do “something” about it. This should be challenged. Hasn’t this government done enough already? Hasn’t it grown too big, too wasteful, too inefficient already? Now if your answer is “no,” then I suggest you skip the rest of this editorial and proceed to the funnies on our entertainment page.
I’m serious. I believe that this crisis can also be an opportunity to refute, once and for all, the notion that the government should be everything to everyone, and that it exists to spoon-feed us — for free. Government is not Santa Claus and Christmas is not every day. Government costs money and it tends to spend it wastefully — even when it doesn’t have any. You don’t need to be a right-winger to believe that. If you’re a long-time resident of the commonwealth you’ll arrive at the same conclusion (even if you supported John Kerry in 2004).
Government is not “the father” of the islands, as the winning student in the 2005 AG’s Cup unfortunately described it. Government is not our parent who is our parent with or without our consent. Government can only exist with the consent of the governed. Government draws its power from the governed. Its existence depends on the authority granted by the people and restricted by clear limitations.
Among government’s primary functions are to protect rights and to preserve justice.
But it is not supposed to be an employment agency. It should not be poking its nose into business. And it certainly should not be doing things the private sector and ordinary citizens can do much better.
But the idea that it should be what it isn’t persists.
Consider what some of the youth recently said in their forum last week. They want their bankrupt government to build a healthcare facility on a school campus to “help prevent teen pregnancy and the spread of STDs among students and teenagers.”
Do we really need the government to remind us that getting pregnant while still in high school is bad for us, and that unprotected sex may lead to sexually transmitted diseases? Where are the parents of these kids? Do they need the government to tell them what their duties as parents are?
Some animal advocates want this bloated government to create yet another new office that will be responsible…for picking up dead animals from the roads. We need the government to do that?
In defending the costly — for CNMI taxpayers — existence of the Youth Congress, a promising student leader mentioned all the wonderful things its members have accomplished without realizing that these merely replicated what parents, teachers and existing government agencies are supposed to be doing.
The youth doesn’t need taxpayers’ money to be a “voice” in the community. They can be that and more by organizing themselves in their villages and schools and articulating their ideas through the various media available to all of us.
Tina Sablan, for example, single-handedly raised the consciousness of the entire community by a single letter to the editor. She then put her money where her mouth is by organizing forums to gather more ideas from ordinary citizens who also care about what’s happening to their islands. Tina is not into b.s. She is too intelligent. She would not make a good politician.
What the CNMI needs are more citizens like her who take responsibility for what is happening right now — and are doing something about it.

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