Ambrose M. Bennett
THE Truth is OUR Democracy is sick, and it didn’t just happen, as WE have figuratively been showing symptoms of our Economic & Social illness for years with each year revealing a progressive infection that was compounded by Covid and the failures of the present & previous Governor (Ralph) not caring about a cure for our Democracy nor our Economy, just their poli-tricks. FYI readers, the founders of America gave us the KEYs to successful governing in the Federalist Papers which are “informed & active citizens,” which we teach in school as it is just that simple. While I’m sure the majority of voters are informed, however, the lackadaisicalness of being active is missing in OUR CNMI formular for successful governing. In fact, the last time for a legitimate protest BY the People and GOP leaders was the WRONG protest to STOP Sugar Dock’s renovation that proved disastrous. One Republican politician after another have poli-tricked fixing the dock for boats and our kids but the dock’s condition today is PROOF Republicans need to GO!
Our Democracy is sick and in ICU and the main reason for the CNMI’s illness is “through OUR faults,” as we say in mass, for not holding our leaders accountable! I wrote years ago about how the “local culture expectation of not attacking leaders contradicts & handicaps the expectations for governing in our Federal System.” The “Local Politics Practices” WE have created DO NOT WORK! The Federal System is “an adversarial system,” as WE can see with calls to U.S. Senators & Representatives along with protest & court filings across America to fight against the KKT Administration’s 2025 Project implementation in America. However, in the CNMI when I exposed the financial waste and dysfunctionality of the Cannabis Commission and the Racketeering Monopoly Scheme that saved MILLIONS, it was treated like it never happened by the leaders & the People of the CNMI, as if this corruption was OK. Yet WE have been complaining about nepotism, favoritism & corruption for over two decades. Something is wrong and it’s not Ambrose, as it’s clear the CNMI has a very SICK Democracy with no accountability! I’m sure most informed citizens know that if Arnold had been a governor on the mainland and got caught practicing nepotism costing taxpayers money & caught plotting an illegal monopoly scheme, there would surely be calls for him to resign and even protest for him to step down. However, the problem that is ailing OUR Democracy is No accountability due to NO activism (no CURE), as it’s the People’s Government!
It should be obvious now that the failure to hold the Governor, our Legislature & the Political Parties accountable to the People who own the Government is the main reason the CNMI can’t move ahead & prosper, which is also the core reason WHY Locals continue to leave for the REAL America with no plans of returning to stay. WE the People (voters) are our own worst enemy and if WE don’t change the CNMI will NEVER change for the BETTER — it’s really that simple! Ambrose M. Bennett can’t be the only one not afraid to “Fight the Power of our Republicans who hold all the levers of power” and our Democrats haven’t realized yet that Republicans are literally PRAYING and even fighting to convince the Dems not to listen to Ambrose M. Bennett, the scholar.
The GOP has People afraid when No one should not be afraid to admit “maybe Ambrose is RIGHT about our Economy and the need for real REFORMS,” and for Dems to sit silently on the sidelines doing & saying nothing and expecting our government to do better when there is no accountability is the very exercise in FUTILITY that WE are experiencing. Republicans KNOW that Democrats nor the People are NOT going to do anything of substance to stop them, which is WHY they’ve been getting away with their schemes. Just look at how there wasn’t anything filed in Court stopping Ralph’s Kangaroo Trial, they force taxes, austerity and other things like the casino on us with no protest. But after what Ralph did to us and now Arnold is following in his footsteps only being more “deceptive” by deflecting his nepotism and using CEDA to do his dirty work — WAKE UP! But Arnold knows HIS People aren’t going to protest. If WE the People are not going to hold all branches of OUR Government accountable TO the People, then WE should not complain about nepotism, favoritism & corruption because without accountability and/or protest WE are saying it’s all OK! So, make up your minds voters, community leaders and especially Dems so WE can start holding our leaders accountable. Or WE can continue to be afraid of Republicans & saying Ambrose is right, leaving all of us to flounder in the abyss of Republican Power Plays of forcing THEIR agenda taxes, austerity, nepotism & corruption down our throats without any form of protest — wake-up & cure our Democracy!
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 Scholar who resides in Kagman III in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
