A Study Of How Congress Is Manipulated: Conclusion

You might be releasing a sigh of relief that the forgoing comments on S. 514 and it’s companion H.R. 2028 are now completed. However, the posts were important and necessary to give a complete example of the horrendous actions that are taking place in Congress which ultimately add to the destruction of the American Indian.

The misleading statements in the bills also give an indication of how thoroughly organizations such as the Muscogee Nation of Florida can fool individuals and governments into believing that the group is a legitimate historical Indian entity, drawing hundreds into their grasp. The revisionist history created steals the proud history of American Indians everywhere. Not least, such claims made by organizations like the Muscogee Nation cause millions of dollars to be diverted annually from governmental programs designed to provide services to legitimate tribes and Indians nationwide.

House Rules that are established at the beginning of each Congressional session usually require House members to read the Constitution and be able to cite the specific constitutional powers justifying legislation submitted to the full House. The introduction of H.R. 2028 makes it more than apparent that this is not done. It’s understandable that the Florida sponsors and co-sponsors of both bills wish to support their constituents. However, it’s inexcusable that they should do so without adequate research.

House committees have cited Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 (Commerce Clause) and Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 (Treaties) as their source of power to legislate over the American Indian. In reality, the Constitution gives absolutely no power to the House to become involved in Indian affairs. Zilch. This power is given solely to the President, with a Senatorial role of advising the President and voting on a treaty - including recognition of tribes. The only exception to this should be in the appropriation of funding.

The claims of authority for Congress to create tribes under the Commerce Clause, Treaty Clause, the Plenary Power Doctrine or any other non-enumerated powers are illusions that are made and defended by the government to support it’s long term strategy to solve the “Indian Problem”. These illusions, like the preverbal monster in the closet, become real only if they are accepted as such.
Because the Plenary Power concept is so all pervasive in everything that Congress does, and affects every segment of society, the perfect opportunity exists for groups to join together and expose it for what it is. The illusion needs to be dissipated and Congress should get back to following the Constitution.

Meanwhile, inventing recognized tribes where no tribe existed before has to cease. This is an usurped power that Congress does not have. Congress should be limited to the recognition of tribes that have been terminated, such as the Delaware in Oklahoma, or tribes that had treaties that were never ratified, such as the Gabrielino-Tongva in California or the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa in Montana (not to be confused with Delorme’s infamous Little Shell Pembina group in South Dakota).

To be realistic, Congress will never relinquish any power that has usurped. This leaves us with the only recourse of educating Congressional members about the lies and fallacies contained in many bills introduced before them. This includes a discourse with members of the Senate Committee of Indian Affairs. The invitation and acceptance of the testimony by the chairwoman of the Muscogee Nation in the September 2007 hearing is a prime example of how easily the Committee can be fooled.

This leaves us with two choices. We can either sit back and just hand everything over to the pretend Indians - thereby self-terminating our existence and ending the age old “Indian Problem” - or start putting the pressure on our elected officials to learn more about organizations introduced for federal recognition before creating a tribe out of thin air. We need to become the proverbial “squeaky wheel”.

At this time, S. 514 is in the Committee on Indian Affairs for consideration. H.R. 2028 is in the House Committee on Natural Resources. My personal experience has been, sadly, that members of the Senate Committee of Indian Affairs are not interested in receiving any input from a person unless that person is a member of their congressional district. I’m asking those among you who share my concerns and have members of the Committee who represent their district to please contact your senator about the fallacies contained in the attempt by the Muscogee Nation of Florida to become federally recognized. Those of you have members of the House Committee on Natural Resources representing your district, please contact them also.

You may use information provided in my comments in any correspondence you might have. Neither bill can be allowed to pass out of the respective committee.