'Paying federal tax is a small price to pay for security,' Guam senator says

Parkinson says achieving self-determination for Guam can’t wait any longer

By Mar-Vic Cagurangan

The Pacific is on the brink of war and, as a territory, Guam faces one of two scenarios: it will either be abandoned or taken over by China, Sen. William Parkinson said.

At this juncture, he added, Guam must be incorporated into the United States, probably as a 51st state, to secure the island’s future. “Territories generally live on borrowed time,” he said. “Doing nothing is not a neutral action. Doing nothing favors China and is against the interests of the United States.”

Parkinson has proposed a legislative resolution that “expresses the consensus that the time has come to actively seek a resolution of Guam’s political status—one that ends 125-plus years of colonial uncertainty and fulfills the promise of democracy for our island.

While the U.S. military maintains that beefing up existing defense resources and building a missile defense system would secure the island, Parkinson argues that becoming the 51st state “is the most effective deterrent to make sure Guam never gets attacked.”

“This is the existential dread I feel will happen when there becomes a hot war between the United States and China,” Parkinson said.

William Parkinson

While the proposed resolution is nonbinding, Parkinson said it would get the gears of self-determination moving. “Even though I am pro-statehood, I recognize the value in discussion,” he said. “Any of those political statuses will be better than the status quo.”

A local statute calls for a political status plebiscite in which “eligible” voters can check one of the three boxes choose from three options: statehood, independence or free association.

However, the plebiscite has yet to be scheduled due to a contentious provision that sought seeks to limit voting eligibility to “native inhabitants.”

In 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court struck down what it described as a “racially discriminatory” law, declaring it unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s 2020 appeal for a review of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling.

Public discussions about the self-determination plebiscite have been on and off sporadic. While independence advocates and representatives from the Guam Commission on Decolonization often testify before the U.N. Special Committee on Decolonization, the U.S.-funded decolonization study and local information campaign on the local level leave a lot to be desired.

“I think there has certainly been a lapse in community engagement, and I don't necessarily fault the decolonization commission,” Parkinson said, noting that the Covid lockdowns and Typhoon Mawar have put the brakes on the educational campaign.

“Now that Covid and Mawar are kind of things that are becoming more and more in our rearview window, the time is increasingly right to have this conversation,” he added.

Melvin Won Pat Borja, executive director of the commission, did not respond to our request for comment.

The U.S. acquired Guam and Puerto Rico in 1898 after winning the Spanish-American War, and both remain unincorporated territories to this day.

Puerto Rico has held a series of plebiscites, in which voters have for statehood. However, the decolonization process has  remained stagnant.

“You need something that brings urgency and immediacy to your issue. While Puerto Rico has been doing it for a long time, there’s no urgency, there's no immediacy,” Parkinson said. “Guam has something that they don't have. We have that emergency and urgency because we are the tip of the spear. Puerto Rico is in a nice, safe and sound backyard of America.”

Thrust into the Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific strategy, the island hosts a significant number of U.S. military assets, including an Air Force base, a naval base, long-range bombers, nuclear-armed submarines and F-35 fighter jets. The military also plans to build a missile defense system to deter China’s growing threats in the region.

For the most part, U.S.-Guam relations are increasingly becoming a transactional affair. Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero willingly accommodates the increased military presence, which she leverages to demand federal assistance.

Although some federal programs available to other states do not apply to Guam, the local treasury relies on at least half a billion dollars in annual U.S. assistance. In her state of the island address, Leon Guerrero warned that federal cuts would put Guam's national security role on the line.

While Guam residents cannot participate in presidential elections, they don’t pay federal income tax. ​Some have raised concerns that statehood could lead to double taxation. “Paying taxes is how we make our community and our society better. And if I get double tax and these taxes go to improve Guam, I'll be willing to pay those taxes,” Parkinson said, noting that paying federal taxes would be a small price to pay for security.

For many politicians, political status is a hot-potato issue during elections. Many have been coy about disclosing their options lest they alienate certain segments of the electorate. “This is a really big and weighty question and people should give it some serious consideration,” Parkinson said. “But I don't think the consideration should be on people's re-election chances.”

Those who calculate their preference for political status options based on re-election chances “are in this job for the wrong reason,” he added.

Right to Democracy, a nonprofit organization that advocates for rights and self-determination in U.S. territories, does not take a position on political status, other than rejecting the undemocratic and colonial status quo, said Neal Weare, the group's president. "People can have different views on what is the best solution to this problem. But we should all be in agreement that the continued undemocratic rule of millions of people in U.S. territories is wrong and needs to end."

Parkinson is targeting the political status plebiscite to be held as "soon as possible," preferably in the 2026 elections. "If we could get it done in the next election, we'll get it done in the next election,” Parkinson said. “But more than speed, it's about doing it right."

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