Reservation Casinos: A Bad Deal

 

Indian Casino

Here in Arizona, the casinos have their biggest day once each month. The parking lots fill with Kias, Hyundais and Buick sedans. Busses roll in from Apache Junction and Mesa. It’s the money day. It’s the day that the Social Security Administration sends those “retirement” checks. The slots sing as crowds of retirees, some packing bottled oxygen, some in powered chairs, pack the slightly dingy casinos to play 12-card bingo or feed the insatiable slots. The TV ads used to promote these casinos show beautiful 20- or 30-somethings gambling their way toward drinks and romance, but the reality is that these casinos thrive on replacing the boredom of the 70 to 80 set with a frequent gambler card.

The casinos themselves have a limited shelf life here in the desert. Sometimes it seems that rather than fix an existing casino’s cosmetic issues – paint, rugs, HVAC – the Indians, not lacking land, simply build a new one down the street. In the past 15 years, The Gila River Tribe (located on the south edge of Phoenix) has twice built and abandoned a brand new casino in favor of a new one less than a mile away. Two generations of casinos (relatively new, modern structures) sit vacant, crumbling in the sun.

There is something telling in this symbiosis between our retirees, their entitlement funds, and the reservations. Since life on the reservation is largely an exercise in entitlement — reservation residents receive public assistance for housing, health care, disability, food, welfare, education funding, utility payments, etc. — it makes sense that their great collective enterprise is funded in large part by recycled social security funds. It is also sad and ironic that an identified population of Americans so profoundly affected by vice (alcoholism, drug addiction) have been given exclusive license to profit from vice (gambling) in a futile attempt to use a collectivist monopoly to better their collective lot. Instead it leaves them victim to internal corruption, bickering about distributions of entitled profits, still addicted to the entitlement state. 

Success and ambition on the reservation are seen as boorishly white and un-Indian, evidence of selfish arrogance, an elevation of the self above the tribe. Pride in the collective, the tribe, is all that remains for these poor Americans. Pride in the self is deprecated to the point where life becomes cheap, ugly, and something to escape. There is a reason why suicide is epidemic on the reservation. Is it better to be drunk and addicted than to seek something better? The result is despair and a perpetuation of all of the maladies that have affected American Indians for generations. It is no longer about discrimination or the depredations of white men. We have, in our guilt and misplaced generosity, helped perpetuate a community of despair, corruption and false pride. It’s time to stop.

The federal government should initiate an immediate distribution of all reservation assets among all tribal residents and members. Members should get an equity interest in tribal ventures, an allocation of arable land, a homestead. The remaining tribal lands should remain in trust to be used to fund education and the reservations themselves disbanded to remain unincorporated or incorporated communities as the residents may decide. The socialist experiment we call the Native American tribal reservation system has been an utter failure. It’s time that we put an end to it.

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  1. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    The problem is that on the one hand they are given all benefits of US citizenship. On the other hand, they are given all sorts of special rights.

    This is an utterly unconstitutional situation.

    • #1
  2. raycon and lindacon Inactive
    raycon and lindacon
    @rayconandlindacon

    But, but… but, they haven’t run out of our money, yet.

    • #2
  3. thelonious Member
    thelonious
    @thelonious

    From my understanding and I could be wrong.  Most of the casino owners don’t even live or come from Indian reservation.  Most are outsiders who prove they’re ethnically 1/8th or 1/16th of the tribe who owns the land who come in and legally open up a casino.  Most of the money generated doesn’t even make it to the people on the reservation.  I remember reading about this somewhere a long time ago so it must be true. :>

    • #3
  4. user_428379 Coolidge
    user_428379
    @AlSparks

    A lot of what you said about casinos on Indian reservations applies to casinos in Las Vegas.  The customer base of a Vegas casino is the same, old people, with even much of the kitsch entertainment focused on them (e.g. Elvis impersonators).  The Vegas strip is in a constant state of tearing down and rebuilding of casinos.  The only difference is that on Indian reservations, they aren’t torn down, but simply left to decay.

    As for the Reservation system and its mismanagement, no party has the political will to end something that, frankly, is a lower priority issue versus our growing general entitlement crisis.  What angers me most about this hypocrisy is that it’s government sanctioned racism even more blatant than the affirmative action (or whatever it’s called now) that the government engages in off the reservation.

    My main fear regarding this issue is the push to extend this corrupt system into Alaska and Hawaii, which is mostly being done quietly without most people being aware about it.

    • #4
  5. user_428379 Coolidge
    user_428379
    @AlSparks

    One other thing regarding old people and their gambling in casinos.  It’s said that the older you get, the wiser you get.  Perhaps that was true, and still is in rougher parts of the world where it takes some savvy to survive into old age.

    I wouldn’t take away their enjoyment near the end of their lives, I suppose, but those elderly don’t look very wise at all.

    • #5
  6. PHCheese Inactive
    PHCheese
    @PHCheese

    Doug did you know that there are 70 thousand dollar Hyundai ?

    • #6
  7. Johnny Dubya Inactive
    Johnny Dubya
    @JohnnyDubya

    I agree with every word and have been saying similar things for years. The only thing I would add is that some “tribes” such as the Mashantucket Pequots are a joke–nothing more than rent-seeking entities whose “members” are folks who allegedly have a drop of Indian blood. My wife went to high school with one of these “Indians”, and he was a white kid like everyone else. There was no Mashantucket Pequot tribe after the 17th century, and the assembling of one from nothing is a symptom of a profound sickness at the heart of our politically correct culture. The idea of the government granting privileges based on DNA is repugnant.

    • #7
  8. iWc Coolidge
    iWc
    @iWe

    Years ago I marked “Native American” on a PSAT. I was offered automatic admission, and full tuition regardless of need at Cornell, Dartmouth, Stanford and West Point. Because it turns out that the number of Native Americans who can graduate from high school is so very low, that any of them can write their own ticket.  Schools like Dartmouth, set up with the mission of educating the Red Man, have only a handful of mascots to show for it.

    White Guilt is more destructive a force than anyone recognized. As so ably shown here, White Guilt has destroyed Native Americans. By the by, it has also ruined inner cities and the black family across America. And it elected an Affirmative Action president.  

    • #8
  9. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    thelonious:

    From my understanding and I could be wrong. Most of the casino owners don’t even live or come from Indian reservation. Most are outsiders who prove they’re ethnically 1/8th or 1/16th of the tribe who owns the land who come in and legally open up a casino. Most of the money generated doesn’t even make it to the people on the reservation. I remember reading about this somewhere a long time ago so it must be true. :>

    It really varies with the particular “tribe” or other group. The seminal situation is Foxwoods as told in Without Reservation.

    You have the question of whether the purported native Americans are really native Americans at all. You then have the question of whether they are just fronting for other interests.

    • #9
  10. Midget Faded Rattlesnake Member
    Midget Faded Rattlesnake
    @Midge

    Doug Kimball:
    The federal government should initiate an immediate distribution of all reservation assets among all tribal residents and members.

    Yabbut does the federal government actually have the power to do this? It still maintains what it calls a government-to-government (i.e, sovereign-to-sovereign) relationship between itself and federally-recognized tribes.

    Was it stupid to treat tribes as sovereign nations? Perhaps. But it’s part of our history, and how much power does the federal government have over another sovereign?

    • #10
  11. Nathaniel Wright Inactive
    Nathaniel Wright
    @NathanielWright

    Your description of Reservation casinos matches my experience as a 21/Craps dealer in Reno. I was working to pay for my undergraduate education at the job until the sheer depression of having to entertain monumentally lonely people who were renting friends every Social Security day overwhelmed me. 

    My job destroyed any joy that was ever possible from the “entertainment” of gambling.

    • #11
  12. user_216080 Thatcher
    user_216080
    @DougKimball

    “Was it stupid to treat tribes as sovereign nations? Perhaps. But it’s part of our history, and how much power does the federal government have over another sovereign?”

    The reservations are only “sovereign” when it suits them.  Legally speaking, of course, if the federal government can legislate specific entitlements for our native tribes, then they can take the position that they have jurisdiction.   But lets say, for legal purposes, that Congress has no jurisdiction.  Fine – give reservations a chance to patriate, that is disband, distribute and give up the collective, or remain a reservation while entitlements and subsidies are phased out.  They must choose: sovereign and independent must be incompatible with entitled and dependent.

    • #12
  13. user_1938 Inactive
    user_1938
    @AaronMiller

    Midget Faded Rattlesnake: Was it stupid to treat tribes as sovereign nations? Perhaps. But it’s part of our history, and how much power does the federal government have over another sovereign?

    All the power, considering that the indians don’t have even a token military and their economies depend primarily on American welfare programs. If they are sovereign by American law, they are sovereign only by American law. Laws can be changed.

    • #13
  14. Midget Faded Rattlesnake Member
    Midget Faded Rattlesnake
    @Midge

    Agree that “sovereign” and “dependent” don’t go together well. Just wondered how Doug’s plan could work in practice, given the legal detritus built up over history.

    Other nations in other geographical areas receive subsidies from us in the form of foreign aid. I’d imagine that as long as we keep the foreign aid flowing, denying subsidies to our native tribes would be a tough sell. Foreign policy. It’s crazy. It’s even crazier when taken internally.

    • #14
  15. virgil15marlow@yahoo.com Coolidge
    virgil15marlow@yahoo.com
    @Manny

    I can’t speak to the economics of Reservation Casinos.  I’m sure they make someone rich.  Overall Native American people are still among the poorest.  Personally I despise the casinos.  And I despise States and local governments relying on gambling to fund their beauracracies.  Talk about swindling people out of their money.  Another well fitting analogy of government being another mafia.

    • #15
  16. user_129539 Inactive
    user_129539
    @BrianClendinen

    Aaron Miller:

    Midget Faded Rattlesnake: Was it stupid to treat tribes as sovereign nations? Perhaps. But it’s part of our history, and how much power does the federal government have over another sovereign?

    All the power, considering that the indians don’t have even a token military and their economies depend primarily on American welfare programs. If they are sovereign by American law, they are sovereign only by American law. Laws can be changed.

     Sorry but the argument does not hold up because legally their land falls under the state that it is in. Congress can’t create a new state from an existing state with-out the state agreeing per the constitution. Federal law allows tribal land to be exempted only from some not all state laws. The current status made some sense when Native Americans were not considered U.S. citizens when they lived in U.S. territories. However, once the territories became states and the Native Americans because full fledged U.S. citizens, then the laws and status of how we currently treat them became unconstitutional.

    • #16
  17. Frozen Chosen Inactive
    Frozen Chosen
    @FrozenChosen

    iWc:

    Years ago I marked “Native American” on a PSAT. I was offered automatic admission, and full tuition regardless of need at Cornell, Dartmouth, Stanford and West Point. Because it turns out that the number of Native Americans who can graduate from high school is so very low, that any of them can write their own ticket. Schools like Dartmouth, set up with the mission of educating the Red Man, have only a handful of mascots to show for it.

    White Guilt is more destructive a force than anyone recognized. As so ably shown here, White Guilt has destroyed Native Americans. By the by, it has also ruined inner cities and the black family across America. And it elected an Affirmative Action president.

     Mormons have maintained for years that Indians are descended from Jews.  As an orthodox American Indian Jew I’m glad you have finally seen the light, Iwc!

    • #17
  18. user_11047 Inactive
    user_11047
    @barbaralydick

    thelonious: Most are outsiders who prove they’re ethnically 1/8th or 1/16th of the tribe who owns the land who come in and legally open up a casino.

    Warren for Prez.  She’ll fix it.

    iWc: Years ago I marked “Native American” on a PSAT. I was offered automatic admission, and full tuition regardless of need at Cornell, Dartmouth, Stanford and West Point. Because it turns out that the number of Native Americans who can graduate from high school is so very low, that any of them can write their own ticket. Schools like Dartmouth, set up with the mission of educating the Red Man, have only a handful of mascots to show for it.

     Because she knows how the system works…

    • #18
  19. iWc Coolidge
    iWc
    @iWe

    Frozen Chosen:

     Mormons have maintained for years that Indians are descended from Jews.  

     I respect the fact that when enough people believe something is true and act accordingly, it is true in their world, regardless of any underlying reality. That is, after all, how Obama was elected twice.

    • #19
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