| Quote
on Statehood |
"Unless
we are willing to abandon our historic positions, we are bound to
demand statehood at the earliest possible time. The whole form and
fabric of our free government is based upon the assumption that
people can govern themselves in better fashion than they can be
governed by anyone else. And as a result it follows that the largest
possible powers of self-government should be exercised by every
community and by every political subdivision, leaving only to the
supreme governmental authority that part of the government which
affects the whole state, or the whole nation, and thus cannot be
exercised by local communities or political subdivisions.
In Alaska we
have often complained of the long-range government from Washington,
which in many respects is the only kind of government possible under
our territorial status. We have talked disparagingly about "bureaus"
and "bureaucrats" and have denounced the ineptitude of
both. Therefore, I suggest that the people of Alaska should, and
do, ardently desire statehood unless economic or other considerations
still prevent the accomplishment of that ambi-tion. We all know
that we can do a better job in taking care of our own affairs than
can be done by some secretary of a department, or chief of an agency,
or head of a bureau, whose office is in Washington, D.C., and who
necessarily is lacking intimate, first-hand knowledge of a country
so far away from Washington as Alaska.
In fact, unless
we have a firm belief in the principle of local self-government,
a belief that we are eager to transmute into action, there is no
reason why we should not join with the many people of the world
who have yielded to the seductive ease and the personal lack of
responsibility for government involved in a dictatorship."
-Delegate Tony
Dimond to the US House Insular Affairs Committee, Public Hearings
on Statehood for Alaska, 1944 |
