Distant Cousins

There are always parts of your extended family you wish were more distant than they actually are. For me, I've long struggled with the entitled nature of many of my Native brothers and sisters living on Indian land/reservations. What the early US Government did to the Native peoples was horrible, and (in many cases) constitutes war crimes, or, at the very least, crimes against humanity. As a result of this there are many Federally funded programs targeted specifically at making reparations. For some people those reparations aren't good enough. Today I'm not going to talk about the entitlement problem as I see it pre se, rather, I shall address the item that is making the rounds in the newspapers today.

As you've no doubt heard by now, representatives from the Lakota Indian tribe declared themselves free and sovereign from the United States of America this morning. They cited numerous (33) treaties that the US Government has violated as basis for their succession. (USA Today)

I'd be lying if told you that my first reaction was anything other than a well timed snort. Really? Sovereignty?

As much as I hate to say it: I'd love to see the Sovereign Nation of Lakota survive without the loads of money that we (the United States) pour into their pockets on a monthly basis.

The average Native living on a reservation is on many forms of government assistance ranging from Welfare to Social Security. Without that money, and no taxes, one wonders where they'll get their income (assuming that they will probably remain reliant upon the US to purchase their food, electricity, water, gas, phone lines, etc). Surely casinos can't support the entire populous of the reservation (assuming that this is their planned main source of income).

I'm sure the US Government's reaction (if pressed to react at all) will involve simply cutting the apron strings. Something to the effect of, "You live under my roof and eat my food (or, you know, take my money), you live by my rules." A quick, sudden cut off of finances and they'll change their tune post haste.

Also, as with any nation there are visa and travel issues. To travel between Lakota-land and the US all residents will be required to pass through boarder check points. The US could simply declare an embargo on Lakota-land (think: Cuba), and US citizens will be unable to travel there (guarded, naturally, by the brand-spanking new boarder check points we erect)--which means: no casino dollars.

The financial blow in and of itself will be too great to withstand. They'll be undeclaring their un-sovereignty before supper-time. The true question then becomes: what horrible things could the US extract from them on condition of re-joining the US? They thought the original treaties were bad—wait until the current administration gets to draft this set. Actually, this could be really great for the US financially--think of all the money we'll save on welfare, food stamps, social security, and university tuition. Nice!

This move is akin to a 5 year old running away. Sure, they'll get to eat cookies before bedtime, but without anyone to bake the cookies, tuck them in, or a bed to sleep in, what do they really get for their efforts?

This is an activist movement to say the least, one which none of the organizers seriously expects to hold. However, this leads us to a bigger question: what happens in the future? Where does this move take us?