This is a basic question, but it leads to another question. Why would anyone want to trade their U.S. passport for a government of Guam passport?
Here are some possible answers. Some envision themselves as future ministers of some non-U.S. based future government. Others may want to avoid following U.S. laws or regulations. Still others may have fantasies about some future island where they can be king or queen. Or it could be a desire to just be different.
The bottom-line is that few people would trade their U.S. passport for some other passport. According to Pareto’s Rule, there is an 80:20 relationship in many aspects of life. In human resources, 80 percent of our problems come from 20 percent of our employees. Or in sales, 80 percent of profits may come from 20 percent of clients. Or in politics, 80 percent of our effort goes to something only 4 percent hold important.
About 20 percent of people may look at things very differently from the rest. But that is often a part of living in a democracy. We can express these differences without any real penalty except the social consequences of saying things others may not like.
For the last 12 or so years, there has been an effort to hold a restricted plebiscite related to political status. One very problematic aspect of this proposed process is developing a list of people who are eligible to vote. One fairly easy solution would be to develop an islandwide elders council of people over 70 to go through the current voter rolls and identify who would likely fit the voting criteria. The current cattle call method does not work very well. Once the elders go through the list, publish it and ask if anyone is missing. This is a very deliberate and simple method.
This type of list could be used for a number of purposes other than voting. For example, it could help to serve as a central identifying document for improved census purposes.
This restricted vote is very problematic in a number of ways though. I doubt either the U.S. or the U.N. will respect this particular proposed format for a number of reasons. The easiest way to overcome this aspect of the problem is to simply use two ballots, one for the pre-1950 and the other for everyone else. This restricted vote is also problematic due to the level of intermarriage we have on Guam. In many cases, this means that adult children will be voting in an election one or more of their relatives, who also live, work and vote on Guam, will not be allowed to participate in.
All the rhetoric aside, perhaps this current proposed political status process is just that, it is a lot of rhetoric, not reality. Any volunteers to be first to trade passports?
RON McNINCH
Mangilao, Guam
