Their participation in the Youth Congress shows that they are committed leaders who care for their commonwealth and who believe they can already make a difference. They don’t want to be on the sidelines. They want to be right smack in the middle of things, voicing out their concerns and offering their proposals to help make their islands a better place for everyone.
The Youth Congress is supposed to tap into this vibrant youth energy, but reading the law that created it, P.L. 8-27, I spotted several flaws that explain why youth senators are learning the wrong lessons during their term of office.
According to the findings of P.L. 8-27:
(a) Policies on youth and youth programs and activities are lacking in the commonwealth.
(b) Juvenile offenses in the commonwealth have increased by over 56 percent from 1982 to 1992.
(c) The percentage of high school attrition has increased by 680 percent from 1982 to 1992.
(d) There is a need for the development of youth programs and activities.
Findings (a) and (d) were debatable even in 1993, a general election year, when P.L. 8-27 was enacted. The CNMI then and now has several youth programs and activities as well as government agencies and non-government organizations that promote youth welfare.
Findings (b) and (c), on the other hand, are either still true today or have gotten worse.
My point is that these “findings” did not justify the creation of the Youth Congress. It’s like saying 1+1 = 100. To shift metaphors, the diagnosis was wrong and the alleged cure was even worse than the supposed disease.
Re-read the findings again. Try to spot what’s missing.
Parents.
No mention of the traditional and effective role of a father and a mother in raising their kids and ensuring that they go to school and not do bad things.
Under this law, the CNMI government, once again, is Santa Claus and the village patron saint and everyday is Christmas and fiesta rolled into one.
Not surprisingly, the Youth Congress is teaching the kids the wrong lessons about governance. A quick review of the bills introduced by the youth senators over the years will show that these young leaders want their government to be the answer to all the problems in the community.
Let me put it this way. The Youth Congress is teaching the youth how their government works — but how it works is precisely the problem.
Youth senators, like most of their counterparts in the CNMI Legislature, are throwing laws and money at the commonwealth’s problems. Laws that are largely unenforceable and money that is basically nonexistent.
The lesson that these promising kids should be learning are the limits to what government can and ought to do. What they should be learning are the importance of self-initiative, self-reliance and personal responsibility in achieving their goals. And parents, not government, should be teaching them these timeless lessons.
I’m not ignoring the accomplishments and the dedication of youth senators past and present. They’re good kids. They’re bright kids. Their hearts are all in the right place.
That is why they deserve better than what they appear to be learning on Capital Hill.
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