Steve Russell: Thoughts of tribal sovereignty in the new year

Let us suppose that “sovereignty” retained the meaning it supposedly acquired in 1648 in the 21st century. Suppose further that it were possible to assert sovereignty from a condition of dependency. Finally, suppose it were possible to negotiate with the US as arms length equals. We shall ignore, along with many other realities, the matter of supporting diplomatic missions to 100 plus nations when most of us can’t feed ourselves without the outside help we are assuming away.

We have negotiated a reservation that is, unlike most reservations, sufficient to produce our immediate needs. We have medical care from white doctors employed by the IHS to work off their school loans, so we are untouched by Obamacare. The idiotic wall along the southern border of the US has been erected around our reservation at our request, with a strand of electrified razor wire along the top of the fence tilted so as to prevent climbing.

Inside the wall, there is no need for petroleum, since the entire property can be crossed in a one-day horseback ride.

The most important assimilative influence, the one that is homogenizing culture on a global level, is the Internet, and so it must be kept out. In my apple book, I endorsed the statement that there is no culture on the face of the earth that cannot be improved by adopting something from another culture, but we apples have lost the argument and assimilation is the enemy.