When I first started the Epitaphs, I knew it was necessary to “wash & hanging-out-to-dry all the Party’s old dirty laundry” which some Democrats didn’t like. But I Knew from Political Science it was necessary to give the Democrats a clean slate for the 2020 elections and it worked because there were virtually no adverse attacks on the Democrats as a whole except for the futile character assassination attempt on Rep. Propst. I do want to thank the Chair for recognizing me and Ambrosio in our meeting for our contributions because it was “Ambrose who fought the hardest for the Party in the public newspaper & Ambrosio who worked the most and tirelessly organizing and promoting the Party while also putting up all the signs for the Public to see.” But the success of the Democrats was really a “Team Effort” of all the Democrat Party Members, old & new, and even some Republicans who were tired of seeing the Governor get away with “murder” figuratively speaking and the corruption in our Government. It was the genuine Team Work led by the Chair that put the Democrat Party and the People in a position to resurrect our dead Democracy that has now come to fruition. Come January with the inauguration of the newly elected leaders this Epitaph will come to an end as the sun will rise on a new beginning for our Government and the People of the CNMI.
Presently the only real question and my major concern for our new beginning is “who will be the speaker” because if the speaker is a Republican or an Independent siding with Republicans then we will virtually be right back in the same place we started before the election. Ed Propst should be our new speaker as I’m very sure that having Republicans in charge is not what the majority of voters want. I also saw a comment suggestion that an “Independent be Speaker,” which is really ridiculous. The leader of the Lower House is chosen by “the majority in control of the House” which is basic “Political Science driven by apportionment rights under a majority rule.” A single Independent Official only represents and speaks for those who voted for them but a Party Member will have the majority of votes who represent the majority of voters in the House on their side of the isle making it absolutely ridiculous for an Independent or Minority member to be the Speaker, duh. This is a basic Democratic Principle for leading so stop the foolishness about an Independent being the Speaker.
The CNMI’s challenges with the new Democrats are very much like the challenges the Democrats on the mainland are facing with the Senate that will depend upon two races in Georgia. Just as there are Trump Die-hearts on the mainland there are some here and WE can only pray for those who have been endowed with “the FOX News vail of Trumpism Fake News.” I even read a comment in this newspaper that said: “MAGA Trump Patriots standing strong with President Trump for truth, justice and liberty,” which tells me that there are people in the CNMI who really don’t have the slightest idea of the TRUTH about #45 but more importantly they still support the Republicans on the mainland and here when the Republicans have literally tried to obliterate our Democracy! They still believe the lies about President Obama, the lies about newly elected President Biden and the “fake-news on FOX continues.” I guess they believe Trump won the election too — see what I mean about praying for these commenters when even our Governor has acknowledged Biden won.
It seems that we have some people who really don’t get it that both Parties in the CNMI are connected to both Parties on the mainland and that much of their ideologies and strategies are the SAME. There was a time when the connection between and with the Parties was only symbolic but ever since the election of our Delegate Kilili all of that has changed because it’s necessary to connect and caucus with the mainland parties and President if the CNMI is to get anything significant done in Washington, just ask Kilili. If the last elections in the CNMI and on the mainland proved anything they proved that the Republican Racism Culture is alive and well in both places. The Republicans on the mainland actually gained seats in the House of Representatives and is threatening to keep control of the Senate even though the Republican Party “houses the KKK & White Supremacy Groups and the Trump Administration did nothing to address the racism in America but instead promoted it. Who in their right mind wants to be in bed with the KKK & White Supremacy Groups who HATE people of color which includes the brown skinned Chamorros & Carolinians — it’s ridiculous! Some Republicans in the CNMI even got re-elected despite their refusal to really investigate our Governor who has been caught red-handed misusing our money and they even refused to tell us what they did with OUR money because their actions were also ILLEGAL! I keep telling voters “this group of Republicans must go” and hopefully we can finish the job in 2022.
I will also reiterate the fact that Torres & Trump are both going to jail for the commenters and you don’t need to be a lawyer to know this — just use your common sense based on the TRUE facts already known. The time has come for “new-beginnings” in the CNMI and that can only happen with NEW Leadership which is really common sense and the Democrat Party Members are our best hope, not a single Independent Candidate who can only speak for one precinct. To be continued: One People One Direction
PS: Stay tuned for this Friday’s Epitaph “Ridiculous State v Local Funding & 126Million” that will surely be a “Political Earthquake” of an eye-opener about CNMI Politics.
The writer is a retired teacher, former CNMI Board of Education Member, James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar) and a Fulbright-Hays Foreign Scholar who resides in Kagman III.
