WE ARE Guåhan is surveying all senatorial and congressional delegate candidates to find where they stand with regard to the military buildup.
Leevin Camacho, one of the leaders of We Are Guåhan, said some candidates have been very clear about what parts of the buildup they have identified issues with.
“However, they don’t explain what their concerns are. So we’ve gone out of our way to identify concerns that other elected officials have identified, whether it is through legislative resolution or comments made during the last two years,” Camacho said.
The survey, which is comprised of five “yes” or “no” questions, asks candidates to share their views on the Department of Defense expanding beyond its existing footprint, the planned destruction of reef at Apra Harbor, potential economic benefit, and funding for impacts on services that much of the community relies on, such as the hospital, public schools and roads.
“The decisions that our elected leaders make about the buildup will have long-term impacts on our environment, economy, culture and lands,” said We Are Guåhan member Cara Flores-Mays.
“The goal of this survey is to provide voters with information to help them make an informed decision during the upcoming elections,” she added.
The deadline for the survey to be turned in is no later than 5 p.m. on Aug. 21. Responses can be made via email at
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or via facsimile at 472-8896.
Camacho said they should have the answers to the survey completed within a week after the survey results are submitted.
Comments
On the national side of things, deficits seem to be a big part of the GOP platform, which is a good thing. Now, if the concern is that economic growth is not occurring as quickly as it should, then that is because more fiscal stimulus is needed, not more monetary stimulus, as the opinion piece from Reuters which appears elsewhere in this paper today, suggests. Fiscal stimulus or government spending, this time around, will not increase deficits -- or it will more than pay for itself -- because the interest on the debt payments as a percentage of GDP is 1.4%, CBO estimates, unlike when it was 3.1% during the halcyon days of Bill Clinton in 1996 or even during the triumphant Gulf War I days of George H.W. Bush in 1992, when it was 3.2%. Which means that deficit spending now will be financed ultra-cheaply because investors are willing to lend the U.S. money for safe-keeping, not so much for yield. Other countries are also buying dollars to devalue their respective currencies to help export more of their goods and services to boost their respective economic growth stories.
Finally, the local Democratic Party cannot be trusted as they want to be "all things to all people." (Survey that, WAG.)
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