|
We are a conservative people
Political affiliation notwithstanding, traditionally, American Indians are conservative. The things that are important to us include family, community, conservation, autonomy, reverence for the past, gratitude for the present and respect for the future. These are conservative to the core, each and every one.
Despite this, Indian country largely belongs to the Democrats, and with good reason: After the Civil War, both liberal and conservative Democrats actively embraced Indian country.
Perhaps more significantly, however, Republicans have, as Tim Giago noted in a recent article, ignored the Indian vote "for the last 50 years." Giago, who is Oglala Lakota and editor and publisher of the Lakota and Pueblo Journals, has a good point, although this wasn't always the case.
Andrew Jackson's Democrats viciously opposed Indian rights, while Abraham Lincoln's Republican party attempted to rally voters around the issue of making Indians full citizens.
But Indian rights, then as now, often stand in the way of business interests. While, during the 19th century, Democrats led the charge against Indians in the interests of commerce, since then they have reached out to Indians, who were, by the 20th century, impoverished. The Republican party, on the other hand, came to represent business interests, and so increasingly opposed Indians.
Gradually, however, as both parties drifted to the left, conservative Democrats, like President Ronald Reagan, fled to the Republican party. Reagan carried with him his Constitutional sense of obligation to the tribes, and while some of his policies alienated Indians, on October 17, 1988, he signed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which is arguably one of the single most important pieces of legislation to Indian country, because it is fueling unprecedented economic growth and development.
Meanwhile, Democrats continue to advance policies that encourage dependency and poverty, and keep Indian country locked in the iron grip of false stereotypes, such as environmentalist extremism, which has also proven so destructive to the environment.
Victim rights?
Recognizing that conservative principles are better, more Indians are abandoning the liberal Democrats, and their policies of poverty. Washington state Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, for example, is a Tlingit Indian. David Yeagley, a conservative writer of some renown, is a Comanche Indian. And several members of my own family are conservative American Indians, who support the re-election of President Bush.
Unfortunately, the dichotomy between Republican politics and Conservative principles continues to alienate many tribes. This is because Republican politics often presumes Indian rights exist to make up for past wrongs.
Most acquisitions of Indian lands resulted from treaties that were later broken, or from outright theft, murder and treacherous acts that caused the deaths of millions of Indians. Obviously, this is not a part of American history in which the nation can take pride. So it's both easy to assume and common to believe that Indian rights are to make up for the victimization of our people.
Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. Indian rights derive from the Constitution. When the founding fathers created the Constitution, they recognized Indian tribes as sovereign nations, and put them on the same level as states.
So why the dichotomy?
Because liberals tend to interpret the Constitution from a modern perspective, while conservatives read it in a historical context. Hence, conservatives accept that tribes are subject to Congress, while liberal Republicans want to subordinate tribes to the states, if not do away with them altogether.
The Democrat party used to have room for both conservatives and liberals; the Republican party still does, and the liberals within the party often oppose not only their conservative members, but Indian country, as well. They tend favor corporate welfare, unfettered international free trade, open borders and subordination of labor to corporate rights. In the same vein, they support terminating tribes in the interests of corporate profits.
These may sound like reasons to oppose the Republican party, but the policies of the Democrat party, now dominated by liberals, are both worse for Indians and contrary to our traditional principles.
Together, the facts argue for Indians to get more involved in the Republican party, where we can support conservative policies. Policies that promote tribal prosperity rather than reservation poverty, and that respect the inherent conservatism of our traditions.
|
by