Our government is too stupid and corrupt for our survival. Are we going to change it this year?


By Joe Q. Public

When is the tipping point for the people of Guam? What is it going to take for people to stand up and take their island back from out of touch, greedy, inept politicians that we continue to elect over and over again?

Each day as we get closer to the election I keep waiting and wondering when we (if ever) are we going to see a single incumbent or [prospective] lawmaker stand up and offer to do something that makes a single bit of difference in people’s lives here on Guam.

Let’s take Simon Sanchez for example, a massive concrete eye-soar in Yigo, that, well, just happens to be the largest high school on the island. This travesty has been on-going for more than 10 years now, this school could have been built 6 times by now. The political two-step has been going on here for so long it is hard to even know what end is up now. Chris Barnett calls out the governor and lieutenant governor a few months ago but he himself has done not a single thing to move this project along. Now the blame goes to FEMA and it is announced that it will be taken up after the election.

Are you kidding? You heard that right, no one is willing to jeopardize their cushy comfortable jobs to take this issue on before the election, they will wait until you re-elect them to do absolutely nothing. All the while our kids are getting up at 5 a.m. to attend double schedules, and others are getting home after dark because our government is simply too inept to re-build one school.

The No Child Left Behind Act, enacted by George W. Bush in 2001 gave federal oversight to states and territories to set standards for the education of their children. Without getting too much into the specifics of the program you can read it yourself here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act

Now the real question is, are we leaving our children behind? Are we preparing them for the world with a public education system that is so poor our children are going to school like this? No air conditioners in tropical climates, no supplies, underpaid and overworked teachers, facilities so poor kids go home to use the restroom? Is this the standard we are setting for them? Are we ready to entrust them with all our futures when we cannot even provide something every American is guaranteed by right to have?

Yet not one single politician sitting or prospective is talking about this! Why is that? The truth is they have stopped caring because we have stopped caring, that is the honest truth. Why are people not protesting in front of the legislature in force, every day of every week? Are our children’s futures not important enough to us? Why are we not asking them for answers on what the hell is going on with our education system and why is no one taking this on?

If we don’t make them fear re-election or election then they simply will not listen! That is a fact and one of the most well-known things about elected officials, anywhere in the world.

Only education is not the only area that we can say this about. You can close your eyes and throw a dart at things that are falling apart here, or have fallen apart and people just don’t seem to care. Anyone want to go to GMH for something other than a hang nail these days? They have doctors using their own money to by anesthesia so they can operate on critically ill patients? What is next, BYOMS (bring our own medical supplies)?? In any other place this is a foolish statement but here we are pretty close to it and it is not satire unfortunately.

A few months ago, there were two bills before the legislature to choose a new hospital location. Seems simple, right? Well, I guess not, being both bills were shot down AT THE SAME TIME!! You read that right, all you had to do is choose one and they cannot even do that. The governor wants to move forward with a medical complex that every single person who has testified has said it is a terrible location for safety and cost reasons.

Our tourism is falling apart and the head of GVB gets a raise, our schools are falling apart, our healthcare is less than third world yet we elect the same people every two and four years!

It is time to wake up and smell the roses and realize the ones you have been sold are black and moldy and just spray-painted red. Get out and vote and remove some of these people who have failed you time and time again and will do it again because we are going to let them.

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Joe Q. Public is a deeply concerned citizen


1 Comments

  • Alan San Nicolas

      10/09/2024 at 6:29 AM

    Nigap, Pago, Agupa ti man parehu lao man achaigua. Yanggen munao mona hit meggai-bula na suette gi sanhalom I guagua. Ti guáilayi na ta seha hit. AFAÑELOS GOF HASSO GI HA’ANEN BOTASIÓN.

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