Ambrose M. Bennett
THE Truth is the mainland of America and here in the CNMI is facing a “Storm of Evil deadly bent on destroying the American Dream for All People of Color” which includes Chamorro/Carolinian Americans, and a real Tsunami is coming as the waters are already receding. The question is and has been WHAT can WE do to survive Trump & Arnold and come-out BETTER-OFF when it’s all over, which is the REAL Lessons that needs to be LEARNED by every citizen for the next election, or WE the People & Our Democracy are DOOMED! It is a matter of common knowledge now that all kinds of illegal acts are being perpetrated upon immigrants and even American Citizens by the Federal Government led by ICE that now has a budget bigger than the FBI, implying “Immigration being MORE important than the SAFETY of our nation within the U.S. And here in the CNMI there are those who really THINK Locals are going to get preferential treatment for the CWs and other things from Trump while Arnold has placed all of our “hopes & dreams” for the present & near future on “MACS, loans & military intervention” but not so much as a “hint of any kind of Economic Reforms” KNOWING our economy was dying – an awful example of stewardship.
A citizen and I were talking other day when he said in so many words, “Mr. Bennett it seems like a cloud of evil has just enveloped the CNMI and WE can’t get out from under it as our leaders are not delivering ANYTHING to really HELP the People.” In fact, OUR leaders are inflicting MORE pain listening to Arnold, who continues to push for MORE taxes because he can’t fix the economic growth & development challenges. All his “Trust & Fiscal Responsibility” talk was just that TALK with no substance to back it up and in fact he poli-tricked us ALL by changing his colors AGAIN to GOP for his benefit in hopes of winning again – I guess WE are suckers to him like Trump thinks about People & War Heros. I pray WE will not be so gullible AGAIN, as WE say in my culture “fool me once it’s on me but fool me twice and it’s on YOU to pay the cost” – in this case Ur FIRED! My MaDear’s wisdom was “NEVER let the same SNAKE bite you twice” and given its common knowledge the CNMI is going BACKWARDS under Arnold’s clouds, WHY would anyone want the Same-O, go figure that when the CNMI joined America FOR the American Dream that’s lost!
The American Dream is WHY People are Proud of America and WHY so many People are DESPERATE even risking their very life to become an American. The American Dream is not a folly but a REALITY that is now being threatened on the mainland and has NEVER fully existed in the CNMI, which is why the migration to mainland America continues pursuing the American Dream. This “Workforce Transition Issue is a clear example of the CNMI’s failure to set the conditions for the American Dream, as the focus is MORE on CWs when it should be on TRANSITIONING as much of the Local Workforce as possible – it’s called STEWARDSHIP of the CNMI & Its People! I have written about the need for some form of Legislative Affirmative Action for Locals, which should be the “centerpiece of the CNMI’s Transitioning effort” for at least the next generation (30 yrs.). The Chamorro/Carolinians are PROUD People and forcing them to line up and COMPETE for the SAME jobs with CWs is just WRONG on these small islands. The American Dream for many Locals is a LOST and even a hopeless construct but those who truly DREAM are the ones who LEAVE! WE must become BETTER Stewards FOR the People as WE are already on course to have a “CW-Filipino American Society” to deal with in the future, which is OK, but they don’t play-around with BS politics when given the opportunity so it will get BETTER. Its issues like this is WHY the late Bishop asked me “to please help his People.”
There are also some dead-end jobs with no career potential that locals don’t want, and you can’t blame them, thus they LEAVE! But there are jobs like “front desk & cashiers that are mostly CWs, but these jobs open the door for eventually working at Banks and other businesses with a real career, but Locals have to apply with CWs. There are other CW jobs that locals will do but CWs are the PREFERRED choice of too much of the business sector. I would be hard pressed to find any private organization that has done MORE than the Chamber to develop the Local Workforce and I even understand the Chamber’s support of King-Hinds CW Extension that doesn’t address the Transition of Locals required in the Federal Mandate. If WE just offer a CW Extension Plan come 2029 when WE were MANDATED to Transition – the Feds are going to do their OWN Transition like I WARNED they would do with Immigrations because WE did NOT listen! There has also been a “laps in addressing the positive impact of AI,” as this technology has the ability to DECREASE our dependency upon CWs but the so called Experts at CEDA nor the Chamber have aggressively pursued this proven technology to aid in decreasing the workforce demands. I’m not against CWs as WE need them, I’m just MORE concerned about prioritizing OUR youth & adults FIRST & FOREMOST for the American Dream, which is just practicing GOOD Stewardship of THEIR Island!
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.