Life on the government plantation

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Sunday, August 7. 2016

Life on the government plantation

Americans Indians on reservations live like many Black Americans live in urban areas. It can easily be a soul-destroying life where everything for survival is free because the powers that be have written them off as people without productive potential and figure that the sensible route is to give them stuff and get their votes.

Everybody admires those who escape any Indian government plantation. The worst thing about the Indians' plantation: No work at all to be done. No food needs to be produced, no buffalo left to kill, no enemy tribes to fight. Nothing. Escape is the only way to salvage a life.

Government treats blacks and Indians as if they were helpless children. Give them stuff and they will shut up. Maybe they - not the government - will figure that out someday but I do not see it happening anytime soon.

The New Trail of Tears: How Washington Is Destroying American Indians

Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 11:50 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

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In 1983, Interior Secretary Watt took a lot of flack when he pointed out much the same. Watt Sees Reservations As Failure of Socialism.

QUOTE:

Interior Secretary James G. Watt Tuesday called Indian reservations ''an example of the failure of socialism.''

Mr. Watt's department includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which supervises the reservations. In an interview to be broadcast Wednesday on the Satellite Program Network based in Tulsa, Okla., Mr. Watt said that reservations aggravated social problems. ''If you want an example of the failure of socialism,'' he said, ''don't go to Russia, come to America and go to the Indian reservations.''

He said the Indians who lived on reservations maintained by the Federal Government experienced drug abuse, alcoholism, unemployment, divorce and venereal disease. ''Every social problem is exaggerated because of socialistic government policies,'' he said.

With the appropriate mea culpa for straying of the PC "reservation."WATT APOLOGIZES TO INDIANS FOR ANY 'HURT' FROM SOCIALISM REMARKS.

Watt is from Wyoming, so his observations were made with some direct knowledge of life on the Res. Cousins in Montana live near a Res. They agree that government handouts to the Res have merely enabled dysfunctional behavior. I will spare MF readers some of the stories I have heard.

During my brother's high school years in DC, his best friend had a grandfather who got off the Res and became a successful DC lawyer. For another success story off the Res, consider Vice-President Charles Curtis. Two of my aunts had mixed ancestry- 1/8 Indian. They had successful professional lives, in addition to raising families.

#1 Gringo on 2016-08-07 12:41 (Reply)

I remember an article I read years ago about an aboriginal boy who suffered a similar fate as he grew up. The eye-opener was he was in Australia.

It's the socialism, not the government or the people. It's universal.

#2 JK Brown on 2016-08-07 13:57 (Reply)

What nonsense! Stop blaming the government for people not taking responsibility for themselves. It's the individuals fault 99% of the time. If people don't have the desire to attend public schools or go to trade school and learn to become a plumber, or carpenter or a mechanic or whatever skill will earn them an income then too bad. There are literally hundreds of programs available to these people. They just need to get off their a$$es and do it. They have no one to blame but themselves. In America you have a choice - win or fail. It's up to you.

#3 Jimmy crack corn on 2016-08-07 14:04 (Reply)

"Government treats blacks and Indians as if they were helpless children. Give them stuff and they will shut up. Maybe they - not the government - will figure that out someday."

It's not a flaw, it's a feature. And government would like to do the same to all of us, in one way or another.

#4 Jim on 2016-08-07 14:43 (Reply)

Maybe they are performing at the level of civilization they are adept at. I'm not being mean, but what level were they at prior to the introduction of Europeans.

#5 Malarky Mark on 2016-08-07 15:25 (Reply)

This is somewhat true but for some reservations but for about half of the Indians their income exceeds the national average thanks to casinos. And YOU pay for their healthcare, food, welfare, beer and drugs and if they work they pay no taxes. You may see them living in a rundown house or trailer but their income probably exceeds yours. Their biggest life risk is their drunk driving or liquor fueled fights with spouses or other tribe members.

#6 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-08-07 16:13 (Reply)

Having been born in Oklahoma and spent summers there with relatives, I know many who left the reservation to become highly successful individuals while others just sat on their hands. Like most families, good parenting and role models help motivate children to make good choices. A cousin who teaches in Wisconsin does have trouble with her students who receive a distribution from tribal resources and use it on here-today-gone-tomorrow items rather than investing in their futures.

#6.1 jma on 2016-08-07 17:46 (Reply)

While generally true, it's not the same everywhere in the country. Here in OK there are a lot of Indians, maybe more than anywhere except some states that have tribes that don't live here. Most are like everybody else, just regular or exceptional Americans; not on reservations.

Most Indians I've ever known wore cowboy boots and were OU Sooner fans.

#7 Jack Walter on 2016-08-07 22:26 (Reply)

Do you remember those maps that showed which counties voted red or blue? There were only a few blue dots out west here. All of those places were Indian reservations or inner cities. And we don't have many cities.

#8 Colorado on 2016-08-07 23:47 (Reply)

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Sunday, August 7. 2016

Life on the government plantation