I don’t agree entirely that the Youth Congress is teaching the youth the wrong things.
However, I did see the point he was making and I applaud him for pointing it out.
I understand where he was coming from and know that he is one who believes in the Youth Congress.
While in my current term in office I come to find it as a worthwhile experience considering the many positive peers — the other youth senators — you come to meet and learn a lot from and share the many images while debating and making comparisons on pertinent issues we face today.
Take our leaders — legislators/lawmakers — for example. Would you come to believe that just about 10 percent of them sitting up there are actually working for us? Or are we taking the typical step at electing individuals who pertain to nothing but self interest?
Very few of our lawmakers are working hard and standing for the rights of our people and directly I would say that Rep. Tina Sablan is the perfect example because her way of public service to me brought in NEW POLITICS which is what the Youth Congress needs to look up to and from that we are educated to get rid of OLD POLITICS which the Youth Congress will spend no time on.
Rep. Tina does a good deed and I’d like if she hung around us more often.
At this point in time, my peers and I need to be rejuvenated in trust toward our leaders.
I just want for the people to know that the Youth Congress does stand firm on issues though being youth leaders in the practice of legislation, we want to be able to look up to the higher leaders such as the House members, the senators and the governor himself.
Distinctly, we are students who have goals to meet and dreams to fulfill. While you are up there lying about the difference and the change you want to make in the community, the youth and the entire community are here STILL experiencing the unfortunate matters crumbling as a result of unsatisfactory legislation.
Rep. Tina Sablan, Rep. Ray Tebuteb and Senator Frica Pangelinan, just to name a few, in my personal opinion are exceptions because they give me a reason to believe in them.
They stand by the Youth Congress and they are an example of proper legislation.
Point is: the Youth Congress consists of young leaders, learning and experiencing things daily and because we are young and are told that we are the future, we practice legislation and we must practice it the correct way.
What hope do we have if our current leaders don’t teach or show us proper legislation?
It’s no wonder a vast majority of the youth fail to commit to voter registration or fail to vote at all because they probably already perceive the uselessness of voting after pondering on the poor efforts of their elected leaders.
The Youth Congress is important and is different this time around. Why? Because as a team, we have to better ourselves in our efforts and decision making.
We are OUR OWN role models with the youth in our hands. We will never give up on our community and that is why the Youth Congress will ALWAYS stay alive.
So let this be a call to you leaders seeking a new term in office and you new individuals seeking leadership as well. REDEEM YOURSELVES!
ANDREW CAMACHO
BENAVENTE
CNMI Youth Congress Senator
As Perdido, Saipan
