Jon Kyl: “This history is in the appendix to ``Hawaii Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand,'' an analysis of the 1993 apology…”

“This history is in the appendix to ``Hawaii Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand,'' an analysis of the 1993 apology resolution and S. 147, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, that was prepared by constitutional scholar Bruce Fein. I previously have introduced earlier parts of that analysis into the Record--this is the third and final instalment. The appendix to Mr. Fein's analysis carefully explains the nature of the Hawaiian monarchy, its evolution toward constitutional democracy, the attempt by the last monarch to undercut those reforms and compromise the judiciary, and the actors involved in stopping that monarch and establishing a democratic republic. This account is a useful antidote to the tendentious blame-America narrative provided in the 1993 apology resolution. The truth is much more nuanced than the resolution's ``Whites vs. Natives'' account. The real story is about a multiracial constitutional monarchy slowly evolving toward democratic norms and equal rights--a process whose final step was the admission of Hawaii as a State in the Union. That step was approved in 1959 by 94 percent of Hawaii's voters--large majorities of non-Natives and Natives alike. The Native Hawaiian Government Act would undo that step--Hawaii's admission to the Union as a unified people and State. Indeed, it would even undo the progress made under the Kamehameha monarchy. That constitutional monarchy was not a monoracial institution. It included Hawaiians of all races.…”