[Right Wing Professor]

Yep, "we" probably should have just exterminated them thar ungracious malcontents while we had the chance. Not abiding by the Constitution? Some nerve. Imagine them thinking they're free to make their own rules. Whatever gave em that dang fool idea? We are so much better than they.

Yep, I think I'm going to make my own rules too. I'm abolishing state taxes on my homestead.

Whose 'they', anyway? Tribal membership is often based on what fraction of Indian ancestry one has. If someone is 1/8 Indian and 7/8 European ancestry, why is he Indian?

http://thorpe.ou.edu/OILS/blood.html

[CyberCowboy777]

My grandfather and grandmother were both 1/4 Cherokee. They never received one "perk" of the heritage.

Those that choose to live and marry within the Tribe get to be "Indian" and I really do not envy them one iota.

[lockjaw02]

AS Mr Fairbanks explained to you their sovereignty is based on Constitutional Law. Only the Federal government has the authority to enter into treaties.

I'm sorry I spoke to soon with that silly sarcastic remark since I see you've started doing some basic research while I was writing that.

What is your beef with criteria for tribal membership? You can renounce your American citizenship and apply for citizenship or at least legal residency to a number of other countries. You don't have to be bound by US federal or your specific state's taxes. You can always find someplace better, more to your liking.

You don't even have a homestead. You just lease it from the government as long as you're able to pay the rent.

The tribal nations recognized by treaty with the Republic of the United States deserve every bit of respect as any other sovereign entity contained by arbitrary geo-political boundaries that is also so recognized.

BTW, just so you know, I have no blood ties to any Native American tribe, a pure mongrel of European descent. I love and respect the Constitution, but am dismayed by the lack of reverence shown by not only our federal and state governments, but by the people from which it derives its powers as well.