January 8 – Commonwealth Day in the Northern Marianas

nPostednon January 8, 2014

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nTaxationnwithout representation?

nOnnthis date in 1978, the Northern Marianas Islands achievedncommonwealth status under the United States—the same legal statusnas Puerto Rico. That means that President Barack Obama is thenpresident of these fifteen islands in the Pacific Ocean—but thenpeople are not allowed to vote in presidential elections! There is anrepresentative from the commonwealth serving in the House ofnRepresentatives, but he or she is not allowed to vote on the floor.nHowever, the people are able to vote for their local government,nincluding their governor, so there definitely is self-rule. And therenis a CNMI (local to the islands) tax department—so the people ofnthe Northern Marianas do not face “taxation withoutnrepresentation.”

Notice that the Marianas are east of the Philippines,
and north of Indonesia and Australia.

nAlso,nthe people of CNMI have chosen to have close ties with the U.S.; whennGuam would not agree to integrate with the Northern Marianas Islands,nas the NM Islanders wanted, the islanders voted against independencenand for commonwealth status.

The Marianas Trench is deeper than
Mt. Everest is high!

nIslandsnnear the deep…

nJustnto the east of the Mariana Islands is the deepest part of the earth’sncrust, the Mariana Trench. In that location the ancient Pacific platenis plunging downward, under the Marians plate. The friction of rocksnrubbing together during this slo-mo plunge causes the rocks to meltnand volcanoes to form. The islands are volcanoes that have built upnhigh enough to emerge from the ocean. Some of the islands have beennfurther built outwards by teeny animals called corals, which havencreated fringing reefs around some of the islands.

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