San Nicolas: Don’t let the powerful win. Fight. Vote.

Congressman Michael San Nicolas, who will be returning to Guam having unquestionably completed the most successful and historic tenure among any Guam delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, is asking voters to vote, and to vote against a system that has allowed the corrupt to amass so much power at the expense of the common good.

“I’ve been thinking about the times we’ve spoken up, regardless of party,” Mr. San Nicolas, a declared democrat said in his message. “Just fight the good fight. Do what’s good for the people. Didn’t even sign a party pledge. Because we weren’t going to commit ourselves to something we knew we shouldn’t. It should never be about that.”

”We did it because we wanted to set a standard for how those should be for those you elect into office,” he said of his refusal to have his political party dictate his agenda as a congressman and before that as a senator. “That it should be based on outcomes, on expectations, on delivering for our people. And on evaluating ideas based on their merits and not based on whether it’s democrat or republican; focusing on what’s good for Guam. We wanted that to be the standard.”

Mr. San Nicolas commiserated about how the last election has shown the ugliness of politics, with negativity and lies weighing on voters to the point that the 2022 primary election saw the lowest voter since elections began on island, more than 50 years ago.

”I’ve been thinking about how the passion of our people has become so diminished,” he said. “How that fire that is supposed to burn, is starting to wane. Once politicians learn, and once it becomes proven that all they have to do is just enough, and ignore everybody else and turn them all off and disgust them so that they don’t even bother voting anymore, then it’s never gonna be about what’s best for Guam. And it’s always going to be about ‘who do I need to take care of? Which groups? How many, so I can also keep doing what I want?’”

”I don’t blame people for wanting something,” he said of those who have committed to incumbents who have made them personal promises or done them personal favors using public funds. “Times are so hard. Any little bit helps. And if it means turning a blind eye; people are so desperate. It’s like exploitation, you know? People are so desperate, they’re just going to go where they need to go, and do what they need to do. Once politicians learn that that’s how the formula works, then this is how it’s always going to be.”

The congressman lamented corruption, the use of the public system to intimidate and punish dissidents, and the overall breakdown of democracy into a society governed by the special interest of the few over the common good of the people.

”This is why we didn’t want to go out and fundraise so much,” he said of his campaign for governor. “We didn’t want to take money from struggling families and we certainly didn’t want to make any deals.”

”Look at what’s happening now with those GMH contracts and the dirty procurements, and the arrogance to be so willing to do all of that while everyone is hurting,” he said. “That just goes to show that politics is so convinced that they got this. They’re even willing to hold onto hundreds of millions of dollars, and hold onto it while our people are suffering.”

”I cannot accept us surrendering to that,” he said. “Allowing that fire to burn out. Allowing that this is always how things are going to be.”

”I want to ask you something,” he said in his message, directed at voters. “I want to ask you to not give up. Don’t let them steal that passion. Don’t let them put out that flame. Don’t let them take you to a place where you don’t even want to bother anymore. Don’t let them have that. Don’t let them take that from you and don’t let them take that from Guam.”

”It isn’t just about the election,” he said. “This is about what we’re teaching our children. What we’re doing for our families, for our friends. Fight for Guam.”