THE CNMI is DETERIORATING right in front of our eyes when WE the People actually infers that the People really control our government. But I’m sure most voters are coming to the realization that WE the People really don’t control anything nor dictate Government activity under Republican controlled Government. I know for some who wonder WHY I continue to write about Decision Day 2022 but what they may not understand this election could prove the BIGGEST and MOST Important in the CNMI’s History since the “Plebiscite Vote to become part of America.” The very further of the CNMI is at stake as I’m sure most of WE the People can see the CNMI is definitely “off-course and headed for who-knows-where and what awaits” — for REAL!
But I would like to remind voters of how WE the People have been ignored and how OUR CNMI has continued to DETERIORATE under these Republicans.
1. WE the People built very nice homes with ocean views for the Governor and Lt. Governor but Republicans and only Republicans refused to use these homes and allowed them to DETERIORATE to the point they need to be torn down. Rep. Richard Lizama is deadly right to kill the housing allowances when their predecessors refused to use the homes WE the People built. Kudos and keep up with the “good fight and making good trouble” for Republicans who refused to use the homes the People provided for them. All the Republicans do is turn things into a personal pay-day at every corner they turn and the housing benefit is just another cash-cow. I would add that the Legislature should might want to consider a four-year moratorium so the next Governor & Lt and presiding officers who are not from Saipan can be “mandated to live in the Governor’s & Lt. Governor and Presiding Officer Homes WE the People Built” and if they refuse, they are on their own. Every State has a Governor and Lt. Governor homes and so did the CNMI until the Republicans just let them DETERIORATE like they did with a lot of things.
2. La Fiesta that WE the People are still making Lease Payments on for what has become “the JUNGLE of La Fiesta” and the sad part is they are not even trying to do something about it for over a decade just let is continue to DETERIORATE.
3. WE the People also OWN the Mariana Resort our Republicans tried to give-it-a-way to IPI and now it’s starting to DETERIORATE. WE the People voted NO twice but the Republicans ignored us-folks-in-the-cheap-seats and forced the Casino upon us and I don’t have to tell you how that turned out.
4. The DETERIORATING Paso De Marianas Mall in Garapan was another Republican “boo-boo” that is nothing more than an eye-sourer that WE the People were led or should I say “MISLED” to believe would be a success. It should be clear by now that these “conservative Republicans” are NOT capable of being “liberal-minded enough to come up with something NEW and BETTER.” In fact, it is there very conservatism that is in conflict with the liberal and progressive things WE the People want and more importantly NEED!
5. I’m just going to “bundle the DETERIORATION” of Susupe Beach Park, Micro Beach, Sugar Dock and to this day WE the People don’t have a single “diving board or platform” for our youth that used to dive off the building at Sugar Dock. And interesting note: I can remember seeing youth diving and writing about how the CNMI’s first Olympians could be in “Diving” if our youth were given the “spring-board & platforms” to practice. Not only is there DETERIORATION there is also a lack of DEVELOPMENT over the past two decades in these all-important locations that are part of our Tourism Infrastructure and for Locals. The CNMI would also be a great place for “off-season diving practice” for divers throughout the world to vacation and practice that would also help our youth but it requires real the work that Republicans can’t do. We used to get Japan’s off-season Baseball Practice — KILLED by the GOP!
Taking DETERIORATION to the next level, the road to Mt. Topochau leads to one of if not the best and most important “look-out” on Saipan that every Tourists would want to visit but there is still NO paved service road. One with rational and objecting thinking would come to the realization that if WE the People are truly building our Tourist Industry that this all-important road for Tourists would have been prioritized DECADES ago, especially when there were Tourists Oriented Businesses operating along that road. But like everything else instead of PROGRESSING to be better they continue to allow the road to DETERIORATE until the local businesses could no longer operate because of the Road condition and the DETERIORATION of our Tourism Industry driven by the loss of the Japanese Tourists Market that catered to these businesses.
I’m sure many readers knew about the mass DETERIORATION taking place in the CNMI but may have never put it in the perspective of a continuum of DETERIORATION that has gone on for two decades and still CONTINUES today. This should also help to reinforce why the Government was asking WE the People for ideas to restart our Economy because it very apparent when you look at all the DETERIORATION that these Republicans really don’t know what they are doing other than doing everything legal and illegal to keep control of our Government and WE the People.
Yes, these Republicans want to control WE the People when it should be the other way around and its time more voters started thinking that way. But it takes time to change an entire society because it takes place more often than not “one-person-at-a-time” which can be a slow process which is why I’m pressing so hard to educate voters on the Decision Day 2022. The decision on that day is going to have even more lasting effects because WE the People are virtually starting all over again with no definitive Tourism Base which makes it even more challenging because in the beginning, WE the People had a “strong Japanese Tourism Base” but now we have TAYA (NOTHING) because the Republicans allowed our original Tourism Base to DETERIORATE to the point of non-existence. WE the People are in trouble and WE need to be voting like our life depends upon it come Decision Day 2022, because it does, just like Michelle Obama said.
These are major mistakes of DETERIORATION that can’t be overlooked and even rewarded with continuing to elect Republicans. I keep telling voters that they need to be taught a lesson BY the People just like the rest of us regular folks-in-the-cheap-seats. WE the People keep letting them get away with the DETERIORATION of the CNMI so it just continues as no one has held them accountable for all of the DETERIORATION.
To be continued: One People One Direction.
The writer is a retired teacher, former CNMI Board of Education Member, James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays & Humanities Scholar who resides in Kagman III.
The head-rest of George Washington’s “Rising Sun” chair.
