Columnists

The primary danger facing our Commonwealth does not stem from a single election cycle, but from the potential return of a specific kind of politics — an entrenched political culture built on transactional power, patronage, and systemic survival.

Those who have never served often brim with optimism untested by reality. Once elected, the complex interplay of federal regulations, limited local resources, inter-agency coordination, and global economic forces quickly tempers grand plans. We can articulate bold visions, but many factors lie beyo…

ONE of the hardest realities of disaster response is that it is often judged in hindsight, after the roads have been cleared, the power restored, and the immediate crisis has faded from memory.

By Ambrose M. BennettActivist    THE Truth Be Told, the jumping of the Democrat ship by Senator Castro too the Republican Destroyer Ship sends an ominous message to the People that has been a constant variable for the past two decades, which is “the Republicans OWN the Majority of the People & …

NEAR Bird Island at the northern end of Saipan there is a trail that leads west through the jungle, over the hump of Marpi and down to As Matuis. It is not for everyone but if you want to feel the island breathe, take its pulse and smell its scents you should hike this trail.

Politicians can advocate for and commiserate with ratepayers all they want, but someone still has to pay for generating power and providing CUC’s services.

FOR decades, people in the U.S. Pacific territories have lived under an air travel system that was never designed for island communities like ours.

I found myself compelled to reflect on what was being discussed. Not because of the specific debate surrounding Chinese tourism or visa policy, but because the testimony touched on a much larger issue that has quietly shaped the Commonwealth’s economic trajectory for decades.

A century and a half ago, Japan strained under a massive effort to modernize the country. While the world embraced such changes as gunpowder weapons, industrialization, democracy and capitalism, the Japanese decided to reject such foreigners’ ways.

Politics, at its worst, merely magnifies human failings. Humanity is deeply flawed, and through politics we choose which of our fellow flawed humans will govern the rest of us — then expect things to improve.