What have Democrats done for Hawaiians?

To the Forum:

Democrats have

controlled both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office for the

past 40 years. During that time, the plight of Hawaiians has deteriorated.

As a people, Hawaiians suffer the worst health, lowest educational levels and

highest rate of people on welfare and in prison. The reason for this is clear –

while lots of state and federal money has been poured into various programs

meant to benefit Hawaiians, little attention has been paid to

self-determination for the Hawaiian people.

Through the years, certain

so-called Hawaiian leaders have valued their ties to the Democrat Party over

their responsibility to their own people. This flow of dollars has kept these

so-called leaders employed, but it has not noticeably improved the condition of

the Hawaiian people nor moved them any closer to the self-determination that

they seek.

The recent Supreme Court decision known as Rice v Cayetano

forces Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians to reassess the best way to achieve

self-determination for the Hawaiian people. Perhaps we should thank Big Island

rancher Freddy Rice for bringing this long testering issue to a head.

Now,

the decades-long failure of the Democrat Party is exposed for all to see, and

shines a spotlight on the all-Democrat Congressional delegation’s failure to

deal with this issue on a timely basis. Since the Rice decision, the entire

delegation has been deafeningly silent regarding a plan of action at the

federal level.

A look at the most recent platforms of both the Hawaii

Republican Party and the Democratic Party of Hawaii holds part of the answer as

to why the democrats have failed so dreadfully to assist Native Hawaiians to

reach their goal of self-determination and points out why the Hawaii Republican

Party should be given the opportunity to lead our state.

The Republican

platform has a specific section entitled, “Native Hawaiians”, while

the Democrat platform contains no such separate section. The only mention of

Native Hawaiians in the Democrat platform occurs under sections called,

“Government,” and “Historic Preservation.”

The entire

section of the Republican platform, entitled, “Native Hawaiians,” is

simple, complete and significant. It says, “The people of Hawaii’s

Republican Party value the traditional host Hawaiian culture and recognize that

it is the essence and spirit of these islands. We support self-determination

for Native Hawaiians in managing their own affairs and resources.

We

believe the determination of “Native Hawaiians”, in terms of blood

quantum or otherwise, is a matter for Hawaiians to resolve and we pledge to

honor their wishes as expressed by popular vote.

Gov. Cayetano’s rash,

uninformed and arrogant decision to remove eight of the Office of Hawaiian

Affairs trustees and appoint his personal choices was clearly a move to take

over something that belongs to the Hawaiian people—not to him and the

Democratic Party of Hawaii. Enough is enough!

We want to invite both

Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians to join us in the new Hawaii Republican Party as we

work to create the kind of balanced political system that would make this kind

of arrogance much less likely. E Komo Mai is our party’s slogan, and we welcome

everyone as supporters, volunteers and candidates at every level of

government.

We are the party of reform and change, two things desperately

needed as we enter this new century.

In past years, the Democrat Party has

tried hard and often successfully to paint a false picture of how the Democrats

have controlled our state for 40 years, and yet have been ineffective in

resolving the various issues of concern to the Hawaiian people, particularly

the issues of self-determination. In addition, our entire federal delegation is

democrat and yet it has never offered a concrete, long-term solution to the

problems facing the Hawaiian people. In addition, they did nothing to prepare

for the eventual outcome of the Rice decision.

In fact, the only concrete

federal action of any lasting significance to the Hawaiian people during the

years of the Democrat Party in our state occurred when a Republican

Congresswoman, Patricia Saiki, working with a Republican President, George

Bush, stopped the bombing on Kaho’olawe, which set up the eventual return of

the island to the state.

Micah A. Kane, Executive Director, Hawaii

Republican Party

Linda Lingle, State Chairman, Hawaii Republican

Party