By Zaldy Dandan – Variety Editor
FOR newly elected lawmakers, the local judiciary conducts seminars on law, the U.S. and CNMI Constitutions, and other pertinent legal matters. Well and good. But there’s more to governance than lawmaking and statutes. This is one of the reasons why many voters, throughout history and all over the world, are seldom satisfied with their governments. Many of us want and expect government to assume major responsibilities such as ensuring national defense and public safety, and improving our quality of life. However, we often seem unaware that these responsibilities require a significant amount of funding. Someone has to pay for government programs, activities, or services that many of us feel entitled to.
More often than not, we take for granted that a funding source exists like a self-replenishing buffet spread. Hence, every time the government runs out of money, politicians and concerned citizens usually blame “bad government,” “mismanagement,” “corruption,” and the like. There is some truth to that, but if government spends more than it collects, the results will not be pretty, whoever is in charge.
That was the case in the CNMI’s previous financial crises, and it remains true today. You can always elect “new faces” with “fresh ideas” who are “highly educated” and have “integrity,” but if the government remains broke because it refuses to rein in spending amid a depressed economy, what then?
Government should “cut the fat,” “downsize,” and “abolish” redundant agencies. Sure, politicians have been saying this for years. But are there enough votes to pass such measures? And who would dare introduce them?
We need leaders who “listen to the people.” Fine. But generally speaking, too much listening to the people doesn’t help. A majority of the voting public has demanded — and still demands — costly government expenditures, mostly on themselves. Who cheered lawmakers as they created one lavish and generous retirement benefit after another? Who applauded loudly for every new office, program, or activity, even when they were duplicative? Who demanded — and continues to demand — quality utility services and affordable rates, regardless of the actual costs? Who will oppose virtually free public health care, public education, college scholarships, and training programs?
As the economist Thomas Sowell would put it, “The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.”
So what’s to be done?
The Marianas Tourism Education Council and the Marianas Visitors Authority educate students about the importance of tourism to the local economy. There should be a similar educational program for the youth — and even lawmakers — that focuses on the economy.
If you hear some folks talk, it seems that funding is always out there, waiting to be taken by the government. Others speak of federal funds as if they come from a gold mine, rather than from the revenue generated by America’s powerhouse economy — the largest and still most dynamic in the world.
Everyone, voters included, should learn how the government operates, how it is funded, and why the state of the economy is crucial to both. We should strive to understand basic economics and recognize why ignorance of it can lead to harm and disaster. Many economic principles are counterintuitive, including those related to prices, wages, trade, and taxes. As human history has shown, the way many economically uninformed politicians — often encouraged by voters — try to address these issues is akin to shooting oneself in the foot to run faster.
At the very least, CNMI officials, youth leaders, and students should learn how local businesses operate, hire people, navigate government regulations and red tape that often involve paying fees, and how these businesses are faring in harsh economic times. How exactly can the government ease the business community’s burdens?
We should also demand to know how many CNMI government employees there are, including those who are federally funded and employed by public corporations and semi-autonomous agencies. Has the total number changed in the past 20 years or so? And why is it that there are clearly thousands of government employees, yet many departments and agencies claim they need more personnel?
For Frédéric Bastiat, the 19th-century French economist, government is the great fiction that encourages people to seek benefits from others through political means rather than production. How true is that in the CNMI today, when the hunt for federal grants, other handouts, and boondoggles funded by the feds is considered by some more important than trying to revive the local economy.
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Zaldy Dandan is the recipient of the NMI Society of Professional Journalists’ Best in Editorial Writing Award and the NMI Humanities Award for Outstanding Contributions to Journalism. His four books are available on amazon.com/.
