Ambrose M. Bennett
THE Truth is, the Republicans have been the stewards in FULL control of the CNMI since 1998 and the TRUTH is WE have slowly but constantly been going backwards ever since. It didn’t just happen to us as I’m sure many citizens can attest witnessing the decline firsthand that started in the North with La Fiesta & the Hotels closing in the north spreading to Garapan and now our entire economy is in ICU literally. To make it worse WE still don’t have a “recovery plan,” as the Governor’s only plan is to beg Our-Fathers-In-Washington. Well, Arnold may have shaken Trump’s hand but that is no guarantee of anything, as WE need to pray Trump doesn’t go on one of his you-know-what and just throw us under the bus figuratively like he has already done to MILLIONS of Americans. Arnold has “one trump-card” that he calls “a threat” — China hoping the Feds will be scared into helping us. But I really don’t see a happy ending to this with Trumpism, as Arnold has literally placed OUR-Fate in Trump’s hands, so WORRY & PRAY given the destruction Trump has deployed!
WE can only hope the next U.S. House & Senate will be controlled by Democrats and Trump will be a Captain-Dunsel (little or no authority), as his reign of terror will be CHECKED! But I am soooo darn THANKFUL the Casino Commission can’t WASTE our money, which also needs to happen on Tinian & Luta and WHY I’ve been calling for ONE Gaming Commission for over two years. But the silence by our leaders, except for two, about Arnold’s subterfuge to pay the CC is actually acts of COMPLICITY, so please create one Gaming Commission. The Republicans have ruined our Gaming Industry efforts with separate commissions for “paying GOP emissaries for Party-Power & Political Operatives. REFORM with ONE Elected Commission is needed, especially when the State of Nevada has only one commission for all gambling in the State.
Republicans clearly have “BAD-Hands,” and Lancheros (farmers) know what I mean, as everything they touch seems to go-bad and even DIE. Look what happened with Ralph’s hands and now Arnold is being caught in an illegal monopoly scheme that I exposed, saving us millions and now Sen. Celina Babauta & Rep. Marissa Flores have exposed the illegal payment to the CC that I had already been warning citizens was illegal. So, I know for a fact that WE the People have literally been watching the CNMI fall-apart under Republicans since the late 1990s, and the only question is “WHAT & WHEN is ENOUGH” — OMG! Businesses are closing and Locals are leaving the CNMI for good & real reasons of “there is No Progress just Regress & No Hope for Any Progress”! Yet, WE keep electing the very same group just because they changed their title and their only plan is gambling & begging! I KNOW for TRUE that OUR late Bishop HATED gambling, and begging the Feds is kaduku governing! I can remember the late Bishop clear as day saying to me, “my People don’t know what they are doing messing with gambling, so please HELP my People Ambrose,” which is why it is so darn sad and even frustrating to see the CNMI’s quality of life continuing to decline and the only thing that STAYS on the table or front-eye is no plans just Gambling- it’s pathetic! WE may NEVER start moving forward & away from gambling until WE get rid of Republicans!
Heck, Arnold has even adopted Trumpism and is “talking in a dichotomic manner like Trump.” Arnold had the nerve to defend Chinese Tourism in the CNMI on one hand and on the other hand he calls China a threat, as if the Feds can’t see he’s talking out of the side-of-his-neck figuratively. But if that isn’t a real dichotomy then the meaning must have changed since I left Georgetown University where I studied Political Science & San Diego State where I graduated with a Masters. Arnold had the NERVE to tell the Trump Administration “his administration was focused on diversifying our economy” when he doesn’t have a plan and hasn’t done anything to even imply doing something to diversifying our economy — in short, Arnold outright LIED just like Trump lied to our faces about Project 2025! With people like Arnold running the CNMI it is easy to see WHY & HOW the CNMI has succumbed to this desolate state of existence and still going BACKWARDS!
I’m sure most of the open-minded and objective Locals can SEE the GOP has already RUINED the CNMI even though they controlled the entire CNMI, as all the Boards and Commissioners are Republlicans. The funny but pathetic thing for me is Arnold is still looking for Republican LOYALISTS to be appointed to some Boards & Commissions as they have run-out of People — LOL! But WE must STOP this “Independent Stuff” that’s out-of-hand and ain’t working. The Coconut Wire needs to be “broadcasting everyday & night, as if there is one thing the Local People are good at, it is “gossip, especially among the kumaires”! Voters can be assured the fake & even real Independents WILL have to respond to joining a party that is being broadcasted over the “Coconut Wire.” This is YOUR Government People and WHY it is so important FOR all the People who CARE to start “telling a friend to tell another friend to DEMAND a two-party system of MERITS” to end this third-party Independent BS that has only divided the People & Government into a dysfunctional state of existence. There is no doubt Republicans ruined the CNMI and WE must CHANGE and vote differently, as real progress starts with YOU! If WE are to ever be One People One Direction the time is NOW, so tell a friend to tell another friend to CHANGE!
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.
