I WANTED to speak in my vernacular of Ebonics for this one. I was soooo dang glad to see Mr. Efrain F. Camacho speak out against the decisions of the Chamber of Commerce – a Chamber that has promoted the perpetuation of “keeping prices as high as the people can bare and keeping wages as low as possible.” This is the mentality of the present chamber that help to get us in this mess and it doesn’t surprise me that people with common sense like Mr. Camacho and Professor Sam McPheters have abandoned this power structure that obviously does not speak for or care about the working people of the CNMI. Common sense tells me Mr. Camacho and Professor McPhetres care more about folks than they do about power and that’s what we need in government — folks who truly CARE about the people over politics and I wish they would run for governor & lt. Common sense should tell us all that we need more folks that care and willing to do the right thing regardless of politics. Kudos to Mr. Efrain Camacho and Professor Sam McPhetres, two folks that truly have my admiration, appreciation and respect.
Common sense tells me that folks are now WIDE AWAKE about our government and it appears that folks have had ENOUGH, especially when it comes to the education of their children! The government has cut and cut and cut and now they are figuratively trying to “cut the neck off” the school system and government employees, civil service included. It didn’t matter that education was the ONE thing they all had in common and promoted in their campaign, which is really about the children who are the heart, soul and the future of the CNMI.
Common sense tell me the mayor of Saipan is a person who deserves kudos, especially for his stance on the municipal councils being empowered even though he is going against the powers that be in our government. We have many “lay” folks that still don’t understand the dynamics of our federal system because “the wheels of local government turn much faster than the wheels of state level government along with the high degree of accountability that is placed on state government by local officials.” The federal system was “designed” to work a certain way and our state level government will never work properly until the primary trigger (municipal council & mayors, which are closest to the people) are fully empowered to influence state government action, accountability of state officials and the implementation of state reforms. This is Political Science 101 but it appears to be over the head of those opposing the empowerment of local government that should have been empowered when local government was first conceived — not 30 years later and that’s common sense.
Most folks want to support our governor but the problem most people are having is the fact that there is no end in sight to our economic decline. In fact, the promise of light at the end of the tunnel in the 18-month promise of an economic turn around by this administration has come and gone. The light at the end of the tunnel is not getting brighter but rather dimmer and the governor said as much in his address because the real surprise was not a date for ending the cost cutting but a date for even more cuts and suffering for the people — the governor can’t stop the bleeding and its common knowledge after his address. I have compassion for his administration because I do believe they are doing their best but we all know that sometimes your best isn’t good enough. The governor has an impossible job given the resources at his disposal and I truly have compassion for his position and the poor hand he was dealt — but this is about survival, which is the first law of nature “self-preservation” and people are thinking about themselves and their family — not the governor’s feelings. The governor needs to understand that he works for a very impolite democracy, which is what Herbert Hoover told FDR when we was voted out of office for allowing the depression to take place in America, which is also why the people won’t continue down a tunnel with no light at the end, nor can we stand by and do nothing about our living conditions. The governor is now asking us for “faith” but folks with common sense know that faith is reserved for children in their parents and for all of us in God — politicians are not included, we are the impolite democracy.
The governor needs to change his stance if he doesn’t want the people and himself to relive what happened to Hoover and to the American people during the depression. It is far better to lose the battle of “wages & immigration” and win the war for economic prosperity but the hardest thing in the world to do is to get a politician to say “I lied or made a mistake or I can’t get it done,” which is why the governor is taking the stance that “he can fix it” when we all now know he doesn’t have the resources to make it happen anytime soon because any investment will take two or more years to have an affect on our economy. We are two years into his term and we are still in a steep nosedive and the ground is coming up FAST! I really tried to reach the governor personally about this so I wouldn’t have to print it but folks with common sense know how the open door becomes a closes door about 100 days after the inauguration.
It would be far better for the governor to admit, “he can’t get it done” and ask for federal relief funds for the people and federal experts to help the CNMI identify an industry(s) and a methodology for getting a new industry(s) started before the CNMI is a complete disaster. Baring a miracle, only “our fathers in Washington” the feds have the resources to give the people some immediate relief and to set our economy on a true course for prosperity in a timely fashion. But the governor can’t ask the feds for help and fight them with a lobbyist at the same time-duh! Folks with common sense know you can’t say “no to federalization but yes to federal funds” because the feds have common sense too.
I can’t say enough about two folks, Gregorio Cruz Jr. and Tina Sablan because they make a heck of a dynamic duo. They are doing research and exposing government, holding government accountable and taking actions to change things, which are the two keys to successful government “informed & active” citizens. I truly believe in this formula prescribed by the founders of America in the “Federalist Papers” and it is about to be put to a real test thanks to the economic decline that is “forcing” every voter and alien worker to become more informed, more active and one people. Everyone has been promoting the fact that we must take a “united stance” but we all know that hasn’t become a definitive reality YET. But the proposed petition by Taotao Tano, led by Gregorio Cruz Jr. offers the people a one-time opportunity to turn this economic decline around before we “crash and burn” and it will be a real disaster if that happens. We will never have everyone in agreement but we shouldn’t just wait for the crash — do something!
All the older folks that have lived in the CNMI their entire life already know we are in the “worse case scenario” since the conception of the CNMI and that the folks in Taotao Tano are on the right track in proposing a simple petition to the U. S. Congress to address the detrimental affects of our economic decline and a means for fixing the problem. The goals are to garner the majority of signatures of voters and the majority of alien workers signatures to once and for all establish an authentic and united stance of the majority of people in the CNMI. It is a daunting task that needs to be completed by August because members of the U. S. Congress will be returning to the CNMI but the petition will also do a daunting job in convincing the U. S. Congress on what the people want and needs to be done. Taotao Tano is confident and so am I that the majority of people in the CNMI are more ready for change and improvement through the feds than following the governor down the dark tunnel of cost cutting that leads to who know where, especially when he doesn’t even know where it ends or what is waiting for us.
I’m humbled and glad that Mr. Cruz and other local folks asked me to join their civic group and I pray that EVEYONE with common sense will sign the petition of Taotao Tano because the feds, not the governor, are our only hope for any immediate relief with a means for turning our economy around for Better Times. Folks with common sense should realize by now that the feds want to help the people of the CNMI and that they are not so concerned about what our leaders want, which is why the administration NEEDs a lobbyist — not the people. The feds know it was our leaders who got us in this mess in the first place — it’s the truth, its common knowledge, the feds are using their common sense and so must we (the PEOPLE). One people, one direction.

AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Kagman, Saipan