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Jewish World Review /Nov. 16, 1998 /27 Mar-Cheshvan 5759
Mona Charen
Separatism plus welfarism equals a dead end
WRITING IN THE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER ISSUE OF THE AMERICAN ENTERPRISE MAGAZINE,
Hendrik Mills relates the following true story about life on an Indian
reservation:
A young couple brought their toddler in to see the dentist
(government-sponsored). Her teeth were all rotted down to the gum line. The
dentist asked the parents why they had disregarded his instructions never to
leave the baby alone in her crib with a bottle of milk or pop. "You fix her
teeth," the parents responded. "That's your job."
The child with the rotting teeth is an excellent symbol of what has become
of Indian reservation life in the past 25 to 30 years. Starting in the
1960s, Indians have demanded greater autonomy, more money (yes, there is a
contradiction) and recognition of the unique Native American culture. They
got it all.
Since then, they have been the "beneficiaries" of countless freebies paid
for by the federal government. These include free health care with no
co-payments for every kind of medical service (including cosmetic surgery);
"impact aid" for the daily expenses of running a school district; federally
funded tribal colleges on almost every reservation, with scholarships and
living stipends; "treaty money," a lump sum of $10,000 given to every Indian
in certain tribes who reach the age of 18 in settlement of various
historical claims first asserted in the 1960s, and much more.
Throughout the larger society outside the reservation, Indians can demand
preferences in hiring and school admissions, exemption from many taxes
including vehicle, county, state income and, for some, federal income taxes,
and more. State laws against gambling do not apply on reservations. And tons
of unopened, donated food rots in garbage dumps near reservations every day.
In the years before the '60s "gimme" model took over, American Indians
certainly had problems. Poverty and alcoholism were particularly acute. But
the structure of the Indian family was stable, children were cared for
attentively by parents, and violence and disorder were not features of
reservation schools.
But federal largesse -- white guilt if you will -- has changed the
structure of life completely. As such, it is almost a perfect laboratory
experiment. What becomes of people who a) wallow in victim mentality and b)
get the essentials of life handed to them by distant benefactors?
Answer:
They get worse.
Of course, it is true that American Indians (like American blacks) were
true victims. There is no question that in the three-century struggle for
domination of this continent, the more advanced people won. It is also true
that American Indians were cruelly treated (though they treated one another
brutally as well) and repeatedly cheated out of what was theirs. President
Andrew Jackson's reputation, to cite just one of many examples, is stained
by his treatment of the Cherokee people, who were forcibly deported from the
South.
But all of that might as well have been ancient Rome. In the late 20th
century, the question is no longer "Who shall control this land?" but rather
"How do you live a good and authentic life as an Indian in the United States
of America?" And the welfare state approach of the last 30 years has been an
abysmal failure at improving the lives of Indians.
The schools are full of poorly dressed, ill-cared-for children. It's not
poverty but rather parental neglect that results in these sullen, ill-clad
children. Academic standards have fallen sharply, but many of the children,
steeped in an "America owes us" mentality, do not see the benefits of hard
work. Those Indians who do graduate often take the Indian bureaucracy jobs
reserved for them. Tribal government positions pay between $30,000 and
$50,000 per year. But the tribal government is about as efficient as a Third
World country's.
Hendrik Mills began life as a liberal. So sympathetic was he to the claims
of Indians that he chose to go and live on a reservation with his wife. Hard
experience taught him how devastating it is to take charity on a permanent
basis -- even if it comes in a bottle labeled
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