The last I heard the CNMI was America and I’m an African-American, the local people are Chamorro & Carolinian-Americans so who is he talking about – he must be the stranger. But I do want to thank him for helping to inspire this letter. I have written many letters over the years and recently about “unity” in government and among the people. Well, it seems the message finally got through to our Governor and the GOP, although I will never get the credit for contributing to the recent revelation of the GOP and the Covenant UNITING. But Kudos to the Governor for taking the right steps to re-unite the party and the people, as I’m sure he realizes the power of being one party and one people. I just wish it would have happened BEFORE the delegate race because the immediate future of the CNMI would be looking a lot different and a lot better, however, voters sent the wrong player to Washington. But uniting the Covenant with the GOP is about the BEST power play left that we could run in this game to counter balance the poor political decision by voters – Biba Uncle Ben, yes he is my uncle too even though we have disagreed on the politics in the past I must commend him as this is not a personal sport but a professional sport.
But just think if we had sent Mr. Babauta and the GOP & Covenant were united, it would be a dream come true for the CNMI and we might have even seen some GREAT accomplishments.
I just dared to dream and it is now a fact the GOP is now in charge of the Lower House in Washington which is where ALL funding bills must originate. For the first time in the CNMI’s history real political power with hundreds of votes in Congress was laid at our door step but voters chose to thumb their noses at all this power. I predicted the CNMI would face an uphill battle and even impossible battle in Washington to get anything accomplished if we didn’t send the right delegate and now the GOP is in charge and Kilili himself has authenticated my prediction about his challenges when he told us on KSPN News that things don’t look promising in so many words – and that was just for openers.
The election did prove to me that many of the people who voted, especially for Kilili ARE NOT dreamers and would rather settle for the status quo than reach for the moon and stars, which is what we instill in students today. I don’t have anything against Kilili and it’s not personal. I would even vote for him under the right conditions but I know the science of politics is dictating this term of our delegate will be more like a nightmare. I just happened to be ONE of a declining few who truly dreams of a better CNMI with the majority of people enjoying prosperity oppose to what we presently face. Hope is renewed with the unification of the two parties but
I just can’t stop thinking about what could have been and I must share it:
I dared to dream that voters would pick the best candidate based on qualifications and the merits of the delegate race. I dared to dream voters would be smart enough to play the political game in Washington like other states did by sending new GOP members to Congress. I dared to dream voters would remember the 12 great years of service in Washington and even forgive Mr. Babauta for his mistakes as governor, which has really served to make him an even better man and politician which most voters didn’t take the time to find out. Obviously, we all missed out on a great opportunity for sending who was truly the best politician to deal with a GOP controlled Congress.
But there is more, I dared to dream that the CNMI would finally have real VOTES for the FIRST TIME in Congress with the GOP’s support. I dared to dream that these bad times would make the people unite based on the facts oppose to falling for the popularity contestant of the Public School System because it’s our economy that needs the help, not education officials. Voters fell for the oldest trick in the book – a politician who swears on education when we are literally facing economic DOOM! But I dared to dream of a CNMI getting the necessary economic recovery funding with the GOP’s help in Congress, like the 500 million that other Insular Areas already got- we really missed that boat! I dared to dream of the jungle lot next to American Memorial Park being developed into a Convention Center that would also house the cultural museums of all the Micronesian Cultures and our Tourists neighbors of Japan, Korea and China. A convention center that has already been planned and blueprinted with $200,000 of local funds and now it may never see the light of day- what a missed opportunity and waste of our money.
It continues, I dared to dream of the Economic Treaty with Japan, Korea and China that Mr. Babauta was going to promote which is directly aligned with the Economic Treaties that the GOP have been trying get done for the past two years – Treaties that will now become a reality but the CNMI’s Treaty won’t be part of that legislation without the support of the National GOP. The Treaty Legislation would have brought so many investors we would have to turn some of them down and we would never have to worry about tourists visiting the CNMI again. I could go on and on because there was so much in Mr. Babauta’s platform to be accomplished but I think the average reader should get the big picture of my dream for the CNMI and it is too bad more voters weren’t dreaming for a better CNMI especially when we KNEW the GOP would help Mr. Babauta.
Dr. King taught us to dream and to dream BIG – today teachers inspire students to dream and shoot for the moon and stars. So I ask where voters really dreaming and shooting for the maximum effort for the CNMI in Congress when they voted – NO! But some voters were just out to please themselves and not help the CNMI.
Sad but true and there’s more – they didn’t vote to get us out of this economic mess and we wonder why we are suffering – we keep voting ourselves into a deeper and deeper hole. We are facing the hardest times since the conception of the commonwealth that can ONLY be fixed immediately with help and support of the GOP in the U.S. Congress. Wake up voters you’re killing us all every time you make the wrong choice in the voting booth!
The front-page of the news paper in November told us our economy is about to “flat line” and our delegate has pledged to focus on education when it should be the economy which is a no-brainer duh! I warned voters about the smoke and mirror politics of education and now the reality of my warning is coming to full fruition. There is a reason voters on the mainland are called the impolite democracy because they don’t fall for popularity contest like many of our recent elections have been. You don’t have to like the person you hire or vote for as long as they can do the JOB! Voters on the mainland played the game of politics in Washington by sending the right player who is a member of the party in control of Congress as we just witnessed in the national elections. This is why we see the control of U.S. Congress go back and forth between the two parties with over 600 seats at play yet no party can maintain a majority over time.
The CNMI must get on top of its political game locally and in Washington or we will continue to suffer and be powerless in Congress. There is no more Stimulus and ARRA funding so we can’t expect much which our delegate just told us and it already proves my prediction has a very good chance of becoming true. The sad part is voters had to know from Mr. Steele’s historic visit and the mainland polls that the GOP was going to rule in Congress but voters failed to realize the magnitude of sending a GOP member and failed to carpe diem AGAIN! Readers can almost be assured that at the end of this term in Congress I will be saying I TOLD YOU SO AGAIN!
One of the main reason people are leaving the CNMI is to fulfill their American Dream that seems hopeless in the CNMI and most of them ARE NOT coming back. But I will share this bit of wisdom, learn to dream people and then you can work to make your dreams become a reality but if you never dream there will only be one reality – the one you are stuck in. One people one direction for playing a BETTER political game and dreaming of a better day by changing our poor voting habits to vote ourselves out of this economic and political mess.
AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Kagman, Saipan
