Quote:
Originally Posted by DDane
Only very recently have we had a local mayor. Before that Mayors were from the Mainland. Our governer is from the Mainland.
That arguement is wrong.
You could argue that the situation is screwed up mostly because ...................................
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There was a firm rule in the wardroom on my first submarine:
NEVER discuss sex, politics, or religion!
This is not a submarine wardroom, soooooooooooooooo.......... Here goes!
I agree that Hawaii politics are pretty bad.
I agree that the infrastructture is pretty poor.
I think there are a lot of reasons for that, and for some of the other ills of Hawaii that can be laid at the feet of our public servants, but I don't think there is much that can/will really be done about most of the problems. Not for another generation, perhaps.
Here's my take on why:
Hawaii was a "Territory" until August 21, 1959. While it was a Territory, the main industries were sugar and pineapple, and the companies that ran those industries were VERY powerful. They wanted cheap labor and little regulation, and lots of that labor was imported from abroad. Those "non-immigrant aleins" had few rights, and the "Big Five" (Castle & Cooke, Alexander & Baldwin, C. Brewer & Co., Amfac and Theo H. Davies & Co.) wanted it kept that way.
It was a Plantation Economy. Very Republican. That spilled over into some very Reppublican appointed Governors. See:
Big Five (Hawaii - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
When the islands achieved statehood, there was, and still is, a serious backlash. The current Governor is the first Republican in my memory. The legislature is two-thirds or more Democratic. Local unions have tremendous clout. The standard Republican complaint is that Hawaii is "anti-business", but whether that is true or not, there are few businesses in Hawaii that are high-tech, or powerful, and the majority are labor-intensive (think hospitality industry).
All this means that there is not a very big commercial tax base on which to raise the needed funds for infrastructure maintenance and improvement. The only taxable commodity is the tourist, and he is about tapped out, with an 11.41% tax on his lodging!
The unions violently oppose any breaks for businesses, and that makes attracting new business (and new capital) to the islands difficult. Time and time again, the legislature does what the unions want. That's what happens when you are still reacting to fifty years of Oligarchy. The pendulum is still way over on one side, and until it swings back, and we have more balance in our political decisions instead of emotion, I don't think things will change.
Hank (who at one point was the Production Officer in a shipyard in another Territory, Guam, and had about 2,000 non-immigrant aliens working for him)