"but I also understand that these people OWNED this country before we came here and took it from them. The least we can do now is to honor our treaties. No taxes for revervation lands because they are not part of the US!"
No, they used the land, often abused it, then moved on to use/abuse other lands. And where in the world haven't new civilizations moved in on old civilizations? I object to morals that apply only to "bad white America" while allowing a pass to the rest of the world.
Seriously, I understand your point but, frankly, the best thing we could have done is phased out the reservation system decades ago. I grew up next to a reservation and watched Indian kids be pulled back into the dysfunctional tribal lands lifestyle like crabs in a pot trying to make a break for it. The tribal elders would not allow the kids to participate in the school's extra-curricular activites. They looked down on any Indian with a work ethic as un-Indian and ostracized anyone who even had the audacity to build and maintain a decent home on the reservation. Today, 35 years later, that reservation is still mired in poverty and alcoholism and cronyism. A lot of the kids my age committed suicide in their early twenties, or slow suicide now.
But if you want the Indian reservations to be sovereign, then treat them as foreign governments with all the restrictions that apply to other foreign governments: Forbid lobbying, and political contributions, and immigration, and so forth. Unworkable? So is the ridiculous system we have now.
We need to come up with something that unites this country instead of dividing it.
You dare talk about them abusing the land after what the early americans did?
The treaties with the native americans should be honored, no taxes for them, and less taxes for us. I am for freedom, if you are for slavery them become a dimwit because they are the party of slavery!