Nothing gets the hate America crowd more warm and fuzzy than a discussion on how the "white man" mistreated the Indians. They love to compare the federal government of the late 1800s to Nazis, despite the fact that no president authorized or supported massacres. President Grant (a Republican of course) alienated many voters by embracing a peace policy.
Well, now is the time for liberals to put their money where their mouth is. Indian reservations in the northern plains sit on top of some of the largest oil pools in the world, just discovered in the past few years. It's time for them to reap the rewards of being large scale landowners in a time of energy scarcity.
The Secretary of the Interior wants to halt drilling in the United States. Of course Obama follows the now discredited global warming belief that inexpensive energy will destroy the earth and kill us all. Most people understand that tapping energy sources here drives down power costs and helps to rebuild our old competitive advantage for industrial jobs.
Indians should step up and start drilling. They have sovereign control over their lands by treaty. If the federal government tries to stop them, it will be breaking yet another treaty with Indian nations. Furthermore, any EPA or Department of the Interior attempt to deny Indians the right to drill would be tantamount to the state of Georgia stealing gold laden land from the Cherokees in the 1830s.
Indian reservations today have some of the highest poverty levels and lowest levels of education in the United States. That can be alleviated, at least on some reservations, by drilling for oil and even refining it on the same reservation. If Obama tried to stop them, that would be a real injustice.
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