When I first arrived in the Marianas in the late 80s one of the first practices that I learned about was “island-time” which means no-one really comes on time but a few minutes late after things have started. I also learned that some would stall around until it was time to eat almost before showing up but non-the-less island time is simply not showing up on time. Complacency or Contentment with power is also a very dangerous thing because power never sits still as it will continue to accumulate if not disbursed and used until there is an ultimate overload which is how WE the People got a “one-sided Government” that has completely blown-up now being run by the Republicans.
For the past two decades voters have been voting on “island time” which is minimal and even missing in action as the voter turnout in the CNMI to my knowledge has been around 60% or less which means the quality of our Government has been 60% or less for the past two decades. Believe it or not, there is a direct correlation between “voter turnout & successful or good governing v failing & poor governing” that is all driven by the POWER DISTRIBUTION among elected leaders and we are the latter. The Republicans have been portraying themselves as the biggest & strongest in the CNMI through their political promotions and signage that led people to respond island style of siding with the big or ruling families and on island time with the majority not even voting. Republicans have actually been winning with only 35 & 40% of the CNMI population’s votes. Island time has been our Achilles’ heel because it allowed the Republicans to easily win elections without any real opposition to the control of power.
But the worse part about the power distribution that took place in the CNMI was that all the power went to the “conservatives” (those who wanted to keep things pretty much the same), which is why the CNMI stayed on the Casino Train for nearly 30 YEARS. The Casino train has come to a complete screeching halt. The people must now decide to stay on this derailed train or get off to find another one or another means find real prosperity – Democrats. In fact, the same phenomenon is taking place on the mainland that has also been on “island time politics” which is how Trump accidently won the Electoral College Votes by a measly distribution of 10 Thousand votes among three states. Yes, he actually won the presidency by 10,000 votes which is why Americans are setting early voting records that are bigger than the voting turn-out was on election-day in the last Presidential election. The CNMI needs to do the same as voters need to turn out like never before to end this Republican Depression that is clearly upon us ALL!!!
WE the People must change our island-time politics to ON-TIME Politics with the majority of voters casting their votes because the Republican base is going to turn-out and to think or take it for granted that the Democrats are going to win will be the same mistake that got Trump elected. Americans are truly voting like their lives depend upon it because their lives actually do depend upon who is president with COVID raging in America. Well, voters in the CNMI are in virtually the same predicament even though we are not experiencing “community spread” like the mainland but we do have a “dead economy” that is worse off than the mainland due to our isolation. Don’t let island-time catch you napping this year and VOTE like your life depends on it because the quality of our Government and life in the CNMI does depend upon YOU voting.
To be continued: One People One Direction.
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.
