[spence]

Originally Posted by detbuch

No. I did not forget that. One of the most racist, brutal, and illegal acts committed by the U.S. Federal government was Andrew Jackson's refusal to follow the Supreme Court's opinion against the removal of the Indians from their homeland. The "Trail of Tears," as well as many other episodes and actions, We're dark marks in American history.

Agree.

I have a spiritual harmony with what little I think I know about a small portion of pre-white native American culture. Within that limited spiritual sphere . . . much, I admit, is probably over romanticized . . . within it there is an almost overwhelming sympathy in me for an Indian way of life that was far more in harmony with the land and nature than the way we live today.

Yes, and no WI-FI either.

I would like a return to some portion of that way. And to infuse it with a return to a constitutional form of government. One, by the way, which may also have a native American contribution through the Iroquois Nation system's influence on the formation of the Constitution.

It begs the question if sometimes the original "constitutional form of government" hasn't been over romanticized as well. If I remember correctly it didn't last all that long...

But that has little to do with discrimination. In my opinion, Indians have every right to discriminate in who they hire, or to whom they sell, or with whom they associate. I think African Americans, Asian Americans, and European Americans, also have those rights. And when government decides with whom and how we associate, and do business with, outside the restriction of anyone denying another those same rights, it is as dictatorial, unconstitutional, unethical, and immoral, as resettlement of Indians from their home to reservations. And it is as destructive to the human spirit in general as it was to the native American spirit. I don't make that as a material comparison, but as a political, philosophical, and ideological one.

Good you recognized that. In theory piece of paper is the same as a pizza, from a certain perspective...

I think the Native American situation is a bit different in that there's some level of sovereignty still in effect. I have the understanding that tribes have some latitude under Federal law to protect the economic interests of the tribe. At this point I'm not sure how it's discrimination rather than a matter of internal affairs.

-spence