Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Musings: Imagining the Unimaginable

I had dinner with several friends last night, and before the meal one couple sang a lovely Maori children’s song. Afterward, the husband translated it, and one line has stayed with me: “Illuminate the lantern in my heart; make me a brilliant star.”

It seems that pretty much sums up our purpose here on Earth.

We got to talking around the table about the prospects for social and political change, and the man who had translated the song recalled as a child looking at a 1913 atlas of the world that had been his father’s. The map of Africa, he said, was entirely comprised of colonies held by every major nation in the world. And over the past century, all that has changed.

Yes, all the so-called civilized nations have given up their colonies — except the U.S. It’s still clinging to Puerto Rico and all its little colonies in the Pacific, most notably Hawaii. I know some folks don’t view it like that, but then we’ve also got Holocaust-deniers and people who believe that we went into Iraq to impose democracy. So go figger.

Anyway, one of the comments left on Monday’s post asked:

Could anyone describe the scenario of a suceeded Hawaiian state. 
Leave off the ideals, just describe how this takes place in real time.
 What happens socially, politicaly, economically and physically to the one million people of this state?
Do we all return to our ethnic homelands?

Well, Anonymous, this little scenario might make it more understandable:

Two weeks from now, you rise and check the news only to discover that by a process of (choose at least one) mass election fraud, Supreme Court corruption, declaration of martial law, the GOP still controls the Oval office. Worse, Sarah Palin is poised to assume the Presidency. (Be sure to click on all the items in the room for the full effect of the horror.)

You mind lurches from thoughts of suicide to revolution to emigration, when suddenly it hits upon the answer: decolonization! That’s right. You’re in living in Hawaii. You don’t need to leave the U.S., the U.S. can leave Hawaii. Simply pledge allegiance to the Hawaiian nation and pay your taxes to the Hawaiian government, rather than the state and feds. You can petition for citizenship, or get a green card to maintain residency, just as is done in every other modern nation. Nobody has to return to their ethnic homeland; services continue uninterrupted. In short, life goes on, with new folks in charge. And if you don’t want to be part of the Hawaiian nation, well, you’re free to leave.

Think of it like moving to Canada, New Zealand, Fiji, without having to pack.


Yes, I know this is simplistic — intentionally so. But what I’m saying is, we’ve got plenty of decolonization models to follow. It’s not some impossible, unimaginable process.

John McCain apparently finds it unimaginable that he has black relatives. Under the subject line “something I didn’t know,” John Tyler sent a link to something I didn’t know either: McCain’s family owned slaves, and he’s got a black ohana. But he’s blown them off, and they’re voting for Obama.

In local elections, Andy Parx has been trying to get an answer to a question that has puzzled many Kauai voters, including myself: just how did Dickie Chang manage to get Walaau, the title of his TV show, after his name on the ballot?

I’m sure that many candidates would find it useful to have a little clue word printed next to their name to help voters distinguish them in the crowded Council pack. You know, like “librarian,” next to Lani Kawahara, or “Jabba da Hut” next to Ron Kouchi. But wouldn’t that give them an unfair advantage?

In offering an explanation to Andy, Dickie reportedly claimed that, “Everybody knows me as ‘Mr. Wala`au.’” While I find that assertion questionable, even more troubling was the rest of Dickie’s answer:

Chang said “it wasn’t my idea- I wasn’t the one who said how to put my name on the ballot”, although he declined to say who did.

“I just filled out all the papers they told me to” at the elections office, he said.


Now that’s the kind of leadership that will fit right in on the Council. Go Dickie!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Imagineering the future of Hawaii?

You left out what things would look like without any fed funds US insurances, etc.

Imports of goods/services? Way more expensive in your future than the barges from state to state now.

Or were you imagineering a "back to the future" thing which throws Hawaii back to the 19th century?

How about the next world power that wants to crash your party? No standing army or other national defense mechanism? Or are you going to cry to the UN?

Hawaii, unlike other US territories and protectorates, is a state. That is what makes it different.

And if I wake up 2 weeks from now and see McCain won, I'd drink a toast to my good fortune!!

And hold the door open for crybaby libs wanting to leave for other countries...Hawaii not being one of them, of course.

Larry said...

I've lived overseas. It works. People can live and thrive in many places around the world. Many other places enjoy universal health care, free secondary education, a lower birth mortality rate and greater longevity and a higher standard of living than we do.

The day after sovereignty comes to Hawaii will be pretty much the same as the day before. Laws will still apply, the roads will be just as congested, people will still own their homes and condos and the license plates will be the same.
Both plate lunch shops and Wal-Mart will still be open for business.

To believe that one people cannot govern as well as another is a bigotry, as is the repeated suggestion that grass huts would spring up everywhere.

Also, it is a mistake to assume that any country not under the protection of the USA will be invaded. For one thing, a sovereign nation might make arrangements to keep a US military contingent here, though that might make advocates barf just thinking about it. For another, many countries don't have significant standing armies and they are not invaded.

The truth is that we don't know how, when or if Hawaii could become sovereign again. This doesn't mean that it shouldn't or couldn't happen just because someone has personal reasons why it shouldn't.

The same person might find that life under a different administration can be better.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you're actually getting on the bus with Andy Parx on this Dickie Chang Wala`au thing. How pathetic. It's no surprise that Andy's acting like he just got hold of the Pentagon Papers. His writing has exactly one tone: shrill. He thinks everything he writes is bombshell journalism. You at least usually have some sense of perspective.

Anonymous said...

Iʻd like to make a suggestion right now for Dickie Chang:

If he feels he deserves to run for council with zip experience then he should make up for that lack of essentials and try to substitute it with honesty.

He needs to state who told him to enter name on the ballot as Walaʻau.

That is getting off on a better footing. If he canʻt even do that, I might invest some time on the road discouraging people from voting for someone who doesnʻt deserve to be sitting there and putting us through more agony.

awolgov said...

Keep it up, Joan, youʻre doing great. That was a nice imagineering. Pretty accurate probably. The U.S. has certain obligations too. They would have to protect not only the Sovereign Nation of Hawaii but their remaining citizens.

The license plates, by the way, have already changed! Watch for them, theyʻre Red and Yellow. It is part of the Transition of Political Authority. Yee hah. Canʻt wait. Thereʻs only a few on this island, Maui has about 30 running.

Andy Parx stumbled upon something terribly important and for those of you who donʻt understand, well, it might take more explanation than should be taken up on Joanʻs blog. Because if you donʻt get the ʻwhyʻ, chances are you never will. How sad for you and ALL of us.

Anonymous said...

The US simply does not allow a state to break off and become a country, and there is no body on this planet that can make us do so.

Two things are certain: Hawaii will never exist outside of the USA, and the people bitching and moaning about wanting it to be such will never stop their whining.

Native hawaiians are going the way of american indians. There is no better future that will be allowed.

Take it or leave it ("it" being the state of Hawaii).

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid that's true. If Obama gets in, plus a Dem dominated congress, the Akaka Bill will surely pass and be signed into law.

That's the end of any Hawaiian hope other than being similar to american indian tribes under the influence of the Dept of the Interior.

The Akaka Bill, by its passing, eliminates any future hope for anything more.

Better get used to it.

Anonymous said...

Thinking that Andy Parx stumbled upon something terribly important and that there are those who donʻt understand is precisely why you people are always on the losing end of the stick. By all means, keep tilting at windmills with Andy. It takes your attention away from doing things that, God forbid, might actually make a difference.

If you want to get something past the activists on Kauai just threaten to cut down a couple of monkeypod trees. It'll hold their attention like waving a banana in front of a bunch of monkeys. Distract them with one hand while picking their pockets with the other.

Anonymous said...

Check out the real situation:
Nation war against nation.
Where did it all begin?
When will it end?
Well, it seems like: total destruction the only solution,
And there ain't no use: no one can stop them now.


Give them an inch, they take a yard;
Give them a yard, they take a mile (ooh);
Once a man and twice a child
And everything is just for a while.
It seems like: total destruction the only solution,

There ain't no use: no one can stop them now.

Check in the real situation
Nation fight against nation
Where did it all begin? Wo-oo-o-o-oh!
Where will it end?
Well, it seems like: total destruction the only solution.
Mmm, no use: can't stop them;
W'ain't no use: ya can't stop them;
Ain't no use: no one can't stop them now;
Can't stop them now

There ain't no use: no one can't stop them now.
Everybody strugglin': ain't no use - ain't no use -
Ain't no use you even try;
Ain't no use: got to say 'bye-'bye!
Ain't no use! no one can stop them now

Jennifer Tyler said...

Dear Joan and all,

A letter needs to be written to the editor of TGI about Dickie. This man scares me in the same vein that George W. Bush did.

Dickie stands up at the first debate eco roundtable forum, and says he felt intimidated to not raise his hand in limiting the Superferry's return to Kaua'i. Instead he supports the superferry succeeding or failing on its own business merits, and he wants the community to know he is a friend of business.

That man scares me. Next, for everyone's info, when filing papers for an elected office, the candidate him/herself gets to choose ANY nickname he or she wants on the ballot. A man who filed papers before I did, called himself, "Uncle Bob" Bortollo, and that's how his name appeared on the ballot.

Dickie was shrewd to put "Wala'au"--that's the only way people would know him. Certainly not Ricahard Chang.

What's dangerous is he already is sidestepping who (if anyone else but him) suggested that nickname on his ballot entry). Maybe his wife? Or himself? Very strange he'd chose not to say. That's a sign of what's to come from that man if he's elected by his popularity factor. We live in an uneducated electorate, much like what would vote in Arnold Schwartzeneger as CA gov, for his on screen personality.

Anonymous said...

Aloha Joan, Please let your readers know that there is a class on Kauai Oct. 30th (details below) that may provide some answers that Kanaka Maoli and foreigners have here in the archipelago of Ko Hawaii Pae Aina. Mahealani's husband is a de jure united States national and can assist many foreigner's with their fears (something the United States is professional in instilling upon their subjects). Please if you can pass on this information. Mahalo! Kalula...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ko Hawaii Pae Aina

(The Archipelago Nation of Hawaiiloa)

55 B.C. to Date

He hoike ma ka oihana kalepa o ka Mahele Aina

ma

Aloha Beach Hotel, Palms Restaurant Lanai, i Kapaa, Kauai

Ma ka la kanakolu o ka mahina Okakopa i ka hola 5 PM ia 7PM

Ka Hae o Ko Hawaii Pae Aina

Na Kauikeaouli Kamehameha III, (1840)

A presentation will be given at the Aloha Beach Hotel, Palms Restaurant Lanai in Kapaa, Kauai by the Hawaiiloa Foundation, a private foundation within Original Jurisdiction

October 30Th, 2008 from 5PM to 7PM,

on Mahele Aina economics & jurisdiction

Topics include: Lawful, Patent and Financial Rights of Maoli and foreigners under Treaty. Palapala koe nae and CD’s are made available. Welina mai me ke aloha.

The State of Hawaii, Inc. is a substitution for Positive Law, in the Original Jurisdiction there isn’t any.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Joan Conrow said...

Thanks for bringing that to my attention, Kalula. Sorry, sometimes I accidentally hit publish this comment rather than reject it.