Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 1990 — Commentary November 1990: another time for decision! [ARTICLE]

Commentary November 1990: another time for decision!

By Daniel W. Tuttle Jr. This is the time of the year when interest in politics and elections should be at its peak. Early in November, Hawai'i joins the remainder of the nation in holding a regular biennial general eleetion. Native Hawaiian issues are for all others in Hawai'i and vice-versa. Out of great diversity, we in Hawai'i are one people and the problem of one of us is a problem for all. If this is not an active political season with public interest in elections high, then democracy here and throughout the nation is in genuine difficulty. Democracy cannot long survive if the people involved do not seriously work at deciding who should and who should not hold public office. The electoral process is so very vital that founding father John Adams felt that when annual elections end, tyranny begins. Fortunately, the people of Hawai'i have, for almost a century, considered the holding of eleetions a very important period of time. Such interest may have reached its peak in the period 1959-62 when almost 95 percent of our registered voters actually voted. In more recent years, participation has waned, but Hawaii's interest in the electoral process still remains high. (Low nahonal rankings normally do not take our rather large military, alien, and migratory populahon into account.) This year, mueh is at stake in our Hawai'i elee-

tions at all three levels of government, nahonal, state, and loeal. On the national level, three of Hawaii's four seats in the Congress of the United States will be filled. The seat in the U.S. Senate, unhl recently held by the late Spark M. Matsunaga, must be filled, and none ofthecontestants for our two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be incumbents. Therefore, new faces in all three posts are inevitable. On the state level, this is indeed a major election hme because both the governor and lieutenant governor seats are open, and most seats in the state legislature are scheduled to be filled. On this level, incumbents are in ample supply, and Gov. John Waihee and Lt. Gov. Ben Cayetano are working hard to succeed themselves. Unfortunately, many seats in the legislature are uncontested due in part to laek of Republican opposihon and in part to the reluctance of some Democrats to challenge their fellow partisans. As a result, it is a foregone conclusion that incumbents and Democrats will onee again control the Hawai'i Legislature. The non-partisan State Board of Education and OHA elections will, alas, be mostly footnotes to the overall election. However, a primary eleehon should help to pin-point eompehtion for the school board. This is also a major year for three of our four counties. Although unlike the counties of Hawai'i, Maui, and Kaua'i, Honolulu (O'ahu), does not

have a mayoral contest; Hawaii's largestcity will be selecting eouneil people. Eaeh of the Neighbor Island mayoral races is important for those living within eaeh county. Only Kaua'i hasan incumbent seeking to remain mayor. Hawai'i and Maui must decide among new and perhaps untried faces. It suffices here to observe that it is obvious that the "electoral stakes are very high." Even as many candidates were disappointed by primary eleehon results, others will face defeat as a result of the November general eleehon. By the same token it is well to remember that, in a basic sense, we, as voters owe as mueh to those "losers" as to the "winners" because they have given us choices whieh are so essentiai to our system of government. Because the winners will be given so mueh governmental power, it may also be observed that, as voters, we must work overtime to make "careful and correct" decisions with respect to the eandidates and to the positions that they have taken on the important issues of our hme. Thus, every age group, ethnic, eeonomie and social group must give the final general eleehon campaign special attention. A few tips on observing a campaign may be helpful: 1. Try to meet personally the candidates for whom you will vote within your neighborhood. continued page 6

Tuttle /rom page 5 2. Examine campaign literature whieh you receive. It will, or course, be biased toward the candidate, but at least you will get to know the various contenders as they wish to be known. what they have done, and what their perspectivef are. 3. Critically watch television commercials. Do the candidates talk directly to you or do they depend upon others to do this? Do they address the issues that are important to you? Do they accentuate positive or negative campaign factors? 4. Try to watch all the public service TV (or radio) programs that feature candidates in informal situations. Do they seem "to talk sense," to your way of thinking? Do they face the issues squarely? Do they exhibit general knowledge about the community? Unfortunately, there is very little time devoted in our loeal media to detailed and thoughtfu! analysis of individual races and the pertinent issues. This appears to be an age of brevity, and time and space are limited. Voters should also try to know major issues whieh an election ean decide (at least sometimes) and to know how eaeh candidate plans to handle eaeh of these issues. For example, on the nahonal level: 1. What ean be done about our very large