Posted on 09/07/2005 6:12:40 AM PDT by Ed Hudgins
Fascism in a Lei By Edward Hudgins ehudgins@objectivistcenter.org
What could be friendlier or more welcoming place than Hawaii, America's 50th state? If S-147, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005, introduced by that state's Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka, is passed by the U.S. Congress, the ugly scourge of racism — the real, honest-to-badness type, not the name calling type that gets flung around too often — will rule those islands which, in the future, might cease to be part of the United States.
The proposed legislation would divide Hawaiians into "natives" and all others. Anyone with a drop of blood of the original inhabitants of the islands might quality. How is that determined? There would be a nine-member race commission to declare who is "really" a native. (Can you imagine such a commission to determine who's really a white or Aryan?) Further, the bill would allow these official "natives" to establish their own government with laws that are outside of and thus not subject to the U.S. Constitution. This government would be related to the federal government by treaty, like a foreign power or a Native American Indian tribe.
This proposal on the surface might seem to mimic the arrangement between many American Indian tribes and the federal government. It might seem like an innocent attempt by some native Hawaiians to grab a chance at setting up tax-exempt casinos and to make a pile of money. But the real motives are much more sinister and dangerous.
To begin with, the current tax advantages that many American Indian tribes enjoy today hardly make up for the tragic fact of reservation life that stretches back to the nineteenth century. America is the land of opportunity; immigrants from all over the world, the poorest of the poor, came to these shores and, thanks to economic freedom, prospered. Cultural clashes and injustices, sadly, put Americans Indians on reservations where they have suffered in squalid, socialist poverty rather than becoming part of the American economic and cultural mainstream and enjoying its blessings.
Native Hawaiians, however, were never ghettoized. They and the latecomers to the islands mixed together and now form a multiethnic community. S-147 would undo this. It would set aside huge tracts of land for a new apartheid arrangement. It could even create "extraterritoriality," meaning that natives outside of their reservations might still be subject to reservation law.
And what of this law? Subjects of the native government would not enjoy any of the protection of the U.S. Constitution. The native government would in fact be a corrupt, third-world type dictatorship that would abuse the rights of it subjects. We know this because those are the core values of the advocates and anyone who would take away the protections for freedom accorded by the Constitution and replace them not with a government that respects individual liberty even more but, rather, political power exercised on the most vile, race-based premises. Many advocates do not disguise the fact that they want Hawaii to secede from the United States.
The advocates of this plan are true tribalists. They take their identity from their accidental membership in some group to which they were born. But the achievements of others in their groups are not their achievements nor are the failures and follies of those who share their genes theirs either. They should be judged — and should judge themselves — in the words of Martin Luther King, not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
When native Hawaiians — or anyone else — look in a mirror, what they ought to see, first and foremost, is not a native Hawaiian, not a citizen of that state and not even an American. They ought to see an individual, what they have made of themselves. If they can only see their own worth in terms of their membership in some blood group, they place themselves on the level of barnyard animals.
Most of us Americans have immigrant pasts and thus it's not surprising that we keep positive aspects of our traditions. But far from seeing our ethic origins as exclusionary, we like to celebrate them and also the cultures with others — on Columbus Day, Italian, on St. Patrick's Day, the Irish, on Cinco de Mayo, Mexican. But it's quite another thing to use our traditions against others. German Fascists used Norse mythology and pseudo-history and to promote their theories of the master race. Native Hawaiians who advocate similar fascist policies appeal to native gods and to sheer fabrications about Hawaii's past that are shamefully recited in S-147.
The Akaka bill would accelerate the politics of racial, ethnic and cultural division that today's collectivists have foisted on this country for decades. If Americans don't want to revive the ugly nationalism that plagued Europe and the world for centuries, they will fight for the laws and the culture that respects above all the freedom and dignity of each individual.
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Hudgins is the executive director of the Objectivist Center and its Atlas Society which celebrates the achievement of rational individualists.
I've been to Hawaii. They hate haolies (mainlanders). Nothing new there. Cut off ALL Federal funding, pull all of the bases out, let em rot. Redo Midway as a refueling spot and refit for ships.
What is so different with this Native Hawaiian designation?
No moral difference between the racists in Hawaii and Michigan. They're all fascists.
They don't just hate whites. Everyone is a minority in Hawaii. I should know, I was born and raised there. Most people there are very nice and its probably the only place on earth were you have soo many different races living side by side and getting along.
This bill is just an attempt by Akaka to land grab and try to turn back the clock. Many of the claims Akaka bases the bill on in reguards to history and how the islands became a part of the US are simply not true. The only reason this crap still keeps floating around Hawaii is because of the democrats.
There is only a handful of pure Hawaiians left in hawaii. Most are only 1/4 or less these days. Hawaiians are treated extremely well on the islands and get a lot of respect.
I hope to god they don't bow to moronic liberal political correctness and vote that bill in. Its a trainwreck and very negative for Hawaii and the US constitution.
A simple grab for power using the race card.
10-1 bet that the Chinese government is supporting this move with financing. Imagine Hawaii gaining independence and then trying to boot our forces out of Hawaii. The Chinese could then set up military operations closer to our shores. With all the Chinese investment and immigration, look for Hawaii to become a Chinese-backed vacation resort with a military purpose.
Sounds like a good Gramscian speech.
OK, so whites are bad and Native Hawaiians are good. If they adopt something like this, the benefits should be limited to those who can prove 100% Native Hawaiian ancestry. Anyone who has even one white ancestor should be excluded...they have inherited the guilt of the whites.
What's the status of this bill? It was supposed to be voted on yesterday.
I called my senators (AZ): One of Kyl's clerks said that while he didn't know for sure, he doubted Kyl would vote for it and didn't want to put the senator in a box. Sen. McCain's office and nobody knew (ahem) how he would vote.
Because of all the hurricane legislation the vote was knocked off the calender for this week but will be rescheduled.
Thanks - that gives us more time to badger our reps.
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