02-08-2008, 04:52 AM
I've posted this before, so please forgive me, but I think it bears repeating. Last graduation season, KITV did a news report on the honors grads from a Honolulu high school. These kids had all been awarded scholarships, had achieved high grades in honors courses, and many had also been involved in community improvement projects. When the reporter asked these "best and brightest" how many of them expected to be living and working in Hawaii in 10 years, only two out of about twenty held up their hands. The few who gave reasons on camera cited lack of economic opportunity and high living costs.
The Jones Act is just one part of the picture, although I agree that it should be repealed. It basically assures that the entire population pays more for everything so that a few hundred individuals and a few companies are guaranteed higher incomes than a truly competitive market would produce. The bigger picture is that we have a lot of entrenched economic interests (both labor and corporate) who are well enmeshed with the political system. This "good old boy" network has even managed to get the people who suffer as a result of this system to vote for politicians who perpetuate it. (IMHO, the recent big box fiasco at the County Council was another manifestation of this.)
Co-opting gullible voters is an even better developed art form here than elsewhere. (Sometimes they do this by smearing any proposed changes as anti-Hawaiian.) The result is a system that reliably votes liberal Democratic, but is one of the most internally conservative you will find anywhere. Remember the howls of outrage that went up when Ed Case ran for Senator? The sad truth is that Hawaii will have to change some things to remain Hawaiian. Can it change and still remain paradise? I think so, or I wouldn't be here participating in the process.
Cheers,
Jerry
The Jones Act is just one part of the picture, although I agree that it should be repealed. It basically assures that the entire population pays more for everything so that a few hundred individuals and a few companies are guaranteed higher incomes than a truly competitive market would produce. The bigger picture is that we have a lot of entrenched economic interests (both labor and corporate) who are well enmeshed with the political system. This "good old boy" network has even managed to get the people who suffer as a result of this system to vote for politicians who perpetuate it. (IMHO, the recent big box fiasco at the County Council was another manifestation of this.)
Co-opting gullible voters is an even better developed art form here than elsewhere. (Sometimes they do this by smearing any proposed changes as anti-Hawaiian.) The result is a system that reliably votes liberal Democratic, but is one of the most internally conservative you will find anywhere. Remember the howls of outrage that went up when Ed Case ran for Senator? The sad truth is that Hawaii will have to change some things to remain Hawaiian. Can it change and still remain paradise? I think so, or I wouldn't be here participating in the process.
Cheers,
Jerry