Another election cycle has come just in time to Rezberry saving me from fatal boredom. Very similar to U.S. political campaigns tribal politics can get really ugly and intense during the run for election. Baseless rumors, evil plots and wacked out speculations are running rampant across the reservation. And filthy, toxic lies spill over onto off-Rez voters who are sometimes left wondering what all the hullabaloo is about. And that’s just the milder stuff that goes on in the competition for the few rare and highly prized seats on the tribal council.
Before you take offense at my statement keep in mind that this is my personal opinion and does not reflect the views of this newspaper or anyone other than my cat’s and dog. Got that? Okay… you may now take offense at me. That being said, most Indians who run for office are good, well-meaning people who feel they have the life experience that qualify them to run their reservations. The thing is, a lot of them don’t have the education or business management skills and the critical expertise required to navigate the complexities of governing a sovereign nation. They also need to be fair and extremely serious about representing the Tribe’s best interests, no matter what. They need to have a positive vision for the future welfare of the Tribal Nation as a whole, and not just be looking to benefit a chosen few…relatives and cronies.
That is why a recent conversation with an enrollee got me all upset. I was saying that I thought there was only one person who could beat out another candidate because they possess intelligence. My friend’s response was incredulity mixed with amusement (like they were waiting for the punch line), and then they said, "Tribal elections have nothing to do with intelligence, it’s who you’re related to, not how much you know." My response was silence and I wondered how na?ve am I that I imagined other voters used similar principles. I vote on the candidate’s record of accomplishment, knowledge of governmental management, my perceived idea of their intelligence, integrity and level of compassion. Sa-ad! I know, right?
The only comfort I took is I’m not nearly as jaded and cynical as to believe that everyone is superficial and self-serving. (Gawd…I really am gullible!) Yooz remember when GW Bush stole the 2000 presidency from Al Gore? All the absurd chaos of hanging chads in Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court’s "decision" to appoint Bush and the thousands of voters who were disenfranchised via the Republican Party’s openly criminal tactics? Me, I was sure that the U.S. constitution would be upheld and the rightful victor with all the crucial qualities to be president would be seated. Sa-ad! We all know how well that situation turned out. U.S. citizens are still suffering from the fallout of two consecutive wars, grief for the warriors who passed on and for the living who suffer from the affects of PTSD, the housing crash and the Wall Street criminals who directly created The Great Recession. All for the love of money.
Instead of focusing on peoples’ need for employment the Republican Congress has voted on nonsensical laws like making pizza a vegetable in the U.S. schools, where half the kids are fat and in danger of developing diabetes and heart disease. There will be no health care for these same children because of republican draconian cuts to Medicare and other benefits that are entirely sustainable for future generations. But to do that the government must compromise and that word is anathema to certain parties, like the Tea Partiers and entire GOP just to name a few. This, all the while The Angry Haters are driving the American economy into debt just because they are offended that the current president of the U.S. is a black man.
The fact that President Obama has walked the talk that got him elected in 2008 is sneered at by the GOP. Obama’s obvious competence and intelligence is being serial-psychotically degraded by the very people who appointed a president who couldn’t string together a full sentence that contained more than two words.
Dang! Whew! I had to get that out, I’ve been alone by myself too long, with only my furry roommates to discuss and express my disgust and dare I say it – hope that voters will seek to understand what is truly important to them, for their children to live in a world unpolluted, and secure in that no greed driven bat-dooky crazy incompetent sub-human creature is voted into an office of any kind. I’m juss saying, yanno?
Think people, think! Vote with your head and not your hate.
