Ambrose M. Bennett
THE Truth I have been waiting to see what kind of results OUR Delegate was going to deliver but given the temperament & policies of Trump it doesn’t look good at all for the CNMI. I said earlier that the challenge may not be so much about the ability of our Delegate but the attitude of Our Fathers-in-Washington who are doing far more destroying than helping any Government Entities, States, Cities Towns, People and even our international standing. While it would seem that our GOP Delegate had a big advantage with Republicans who have the complete “tri-fector” (Presidency, Congress & Supreme Court) but from what I can tell our Delegate is not getting a lot of cooperation in getting things done other than Pho to Ops. I’m sure many People are glad to see her being active in local matters but WE need to see some REAL results from Our-Fathers-in-Washington.
Writing Legislation & letters is great but they are also the “least amount of accountability” as they can and often are thrown in the trash or just ignored, especially in the realm of the political arena. WE need our Delegate in Washington “knocking on doors & talking directly to the people with the POWER” to get real results, as there has NOT been any responses to her many letters being made public. There is also the concern as to “who is really working with & helping our Delegate,” as it’s supposed to be a “Team Effort” with the Governor leading the way on our statewide issues to be addressed in Congress. Kilili often informed the People about “how he caucused with the Democrats to get certain things done and who was pushing & even authoring Bills for the CNMI.” Given our Delegate is a member of the Party in Power, I’m sure the expectations are high for her to deliver real results that WE are not seeing, just more letters and talk that is becoming “cheap talk” in my culture.
Our Delegate also needs to share with us WHO are the people in Congress working with our Delegate, as they are the voices WE truly need, not our leaders & People yelling from the other side of the world never to be heard. For me and many, there is also real concern that our Delegate’s continued quest for this EVS-TAP to get Chinese Tourists is highly questionable due to it being “one-sided.” WE (the CNMI) know the Chinese Government won’t even let their citizens travel to the CNMI, especially when WE are still pushing gambling and the adversarial position Trump has taken towards China. In fact, China has already “CHALLENGED America to War” saying “We are ready for any WAR the U.S. wants to start.” Our Fathers-in-Washington are literally in a “cold-war with China” and to think that they are going to help us bring in Chinese Tourists defies the logic of the very situation. It is easy to see why our Fathers-in-Washington have ignored our Delegate’s request letters. I have never been against tourists from China as I know we could use tourists regardless of their home country. However, to try and push the admittance of Chinese into America when the Chinese Government and Our-Fathers-in-Washington are at-ODDS to the point of talking WAR is really dumb.
Basic Social Science teaches that WE (the CNMI) should be working with OUR ALLIES, not OUR Adversaries. If WE had put the same work & efforts in doing things like leasing the Mariana Resort to a Japanese Investor even if WE have to beg Kan Pacific to take it back, that WE would now be experiencing the return of the Japanese Tourist Market. It was never a good idea to push for Chinese Investors & Tourists in the first place, given China is considered “an American Adversary,” not a friend nor ally, which is basic Social & Political Science. I knew this China quest was & is not going to have a good ending the moment Senator Jude brought it up for consideration and now he’s like a church mouse who has messed up things and disappeared. He has put us on this EVS-TAP trip for around two years with no results, as its clear the answer is NO at this point in time. Our Delegate is also doing a lot of political & local reform talk here in the CNMI but WE really need her in Washington taking care of OUR National Business to create One Voice in Congress FOR the CNMI like Kilili was so successful at doing.” WE would be far better off with our Fathers-in-Washington if WE had a Real Economic Recovery Plan to promote for the Feds to fund instead of chasing Chinese that may not even come if the EVS-TAP is approved. I’m still wishing the BEST for our Delegate, but her “game plan” needs to change and she needs to get our leaders (Governor & Legislature) to come up with a Real Economic Recovery Plan for her to sell to the Feds. It’s really that simple.
One People, One Direction.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an Economist who minored in Sociology, a Political Scientist, a retired teacher & former CNMI Board of Education Member, a James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays, lifetime Humanities & Religious Scholar who resides in Kagman III in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
