Ambrose M. Bennett
THE Truth is it will never change for the better until the majority of voters change for a better CNMI, as my reference of “the Same-O with Republicans” is very TRUE and our despairing state of existence is PROOF! The subterfuge always starts with our elections that pit two GOP with a different titling Poli-Trick against one Democrat virtually guaranteeing a Republican will sit in the Executive Office, which is what WE are headed for again and WHY I keep pleading for voters, especially Government employees & retirees to CHANGE! I truly feel sorry for all of us who are forced to just accept the lack of an Economic Recovery Plan that is being replaced with the “gaslighting of unused money & military intervention” which is NOT an economic plan. WE were promised TRUST and only got more subterfuge with austerity when there was clearly forgotten funds that could have avoided austerity, BUT Government employees & retirees are still asleep. The recent MACS giveaway of 22 yrs. in taxes to an airline WE didn’t need for promises BUT no guarantees and they won’t even bring in tourists — pathetic! And don’t forget the MPLT Loans by Ralph & Arnold yet to be repaid in full BUT taya FOR the People. Arnold also borrowed another 50-million and is thinking about another loan BUT no plan to repay, duh & wake-up Locals!
BUT it gets worse, as its obvious Arnold is “hacking away at our future in taxes & loans for HIS political survival today.” He should be cutting cost, yet Arnold is even breaking the law that he is supposed to uphold by taking from PSS’s 25% so he can pay HIS Washington Advisor and HIS lobbyist to plead HIS case in Washington PROVING his Photo op with Trump was only “a picture” with no weight nor merits in helping the CNMI. Whatever happened to working in concert with OUR paid Delegate in Washington to get THEIR Republicans to help us — a LOL? BUT it is clear Arnold is NOT going to open himself up for any accountability and has even put OUR entire economic fate in the hands of his Washington Advisor, his lobbyist & the military. Well, WE all know what happened to the last governor who hired a lobbyist when WE didn’t need one — so will history repeat itself and Arnold will be gone or will it continue to be the Same-O with Arnold AGAIN in 2026!
It is almost common knowledge among Americans that WE no longer have “a nation OF the People & Laws” BUT its now “a nation OF Trump” so it doesn’t matter about what Arnold’s advisor & lobbyist do. The CNMI’s fate is going to be about WHAT Trump wants and decides — so good luck to the Governor’s Crew and to all of us BUT don’t bet on Arnold’s so-call plan! In fact, it should be clear by now that Arnold has not led for a better CNMI BUT only “managed the CNMI” so he can run a second term and his lack of an economic plan to be held accountable for is just more PROOF. How can WE have a dying economy that is clearly in “ICU” BUT Arnold hires a lobbyist and won’t call a doctor (economist) for treatments (a plan) to cure our ailing economy, which defies logic and any chances for real recovery & prosperity. Arnold has put all of OUR bets “on Trump” who is killing Democracy in America. FYI, the CNMI has NEVER been a major priority in Washington since WWII — so Arnold’s lackadaisical Begging-plan FOR his People is not promising. BUT, if the People don’t CHANGE, the CNMI will continue to be the Same-O Same-O like a third world country with mounting DEBTS & no Plan!
For me, WE the People have been getting one of the biggest show of “deflecting the need for an economic plan & gaslighting forgotten money & the military” ever by a Governor in the history of the CNMI. WE could have hired anyone to be Governor & Delegate just to take pictures & write letters — now our Delegate is still pushing letters FOR our fate on China instead of getting her fellow Republicans behind her & Arnold has hired a mouthpiece — a PATHETIC show of impotence in teamwork and the lack of a real PLAN to execute! I keep telling everyone that building the CNMI’s economy is going to take a real plan & real work — BUT! In fact, arrivals continue to plummet after nearly two years on this quest for “Chinese Tourists.” Now there are no more flights from Hong Kong to Saipan making the quest for Chinese look more & more like mirage-chasing only serving to “distract from coming up with other tourism plans” to reform the CNMI for the BETTER — another “I Told You So” BUT no leader listened. I suggest voters take “stock & value” in the MV’s Poll that is clearly showing 87% of readers KNOW WE need a NEW Governor & Legislature. BUT the REAL problem & challenge is there are “No Takers,” not even a Democrat option to Arnold & Crew — the sad state of our citizenry civic responsibility — for TRUE!
The KEY to rebuilding our economy is one word “REFORM,” which is to CHANGE the archaic GOP conservative way of “do nothing, waiting on investors & begging the feds” that has led to our pathetic state of economic existence. Waiting on advisors, lobbyists, Our-fathers-in-Washington, investors, China or anyone else to save us defies nature and the logic of “self-preservation” in the very lesson WE teach our youth “to be masters of THEIR fate”! BUT I guess our Governor & elected leaders forgot this all-important life-skills lesson taught to them in Jr. & High School so they can avoid being held accountable for anything. I wish WE could FIRE this “rubber-stamp government” and teach them a lesson BUT, as Dems aren’t fighting FOR the People and too many voters prefer Republican subterfuge OVER the TRUTH that I keep sharing — so good luck to ALL of us, as the truth hurts!
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.
