Opinion: Bush administration stifles tribal economies

Friday, February 1, 2008  

"Some Indian tribes have made millions at home by exploiting a market for on-reservation casino gaming created by state law and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. In recent years, tribes that do not enjoy a non-Indian gaming market have attempted to tap into gaming markets far from their current homelands, without much success.

A backlash is developing against these new tribal economies and business opportunities. Suddenly, American commentators that would otherwise promote economic growth across state and national boundary lines want tribal businesses to stay home. But simple economics teaches us that a business cannot grow and develop if its market is limited to a small area.

Even the tribes' trustee, the same entity that once encouraged tribes to start tribal businesses, is putting the on breaks when it comes to the off-reservation market. The Department of Interior has made a unilateral decision that it will not approve applications for off-reservation Indian gaming except in extremely narrow circumstances. Of note, Interior has concluded that Indian gaming operations will not assist Indian communities unless they help to reduce the on-reservation unemployment rate. And, Interior added, if Indians left their reservation to pursue opportunities in the off-reservation market, it would somehow erode reservation life. The old Indian trading centers belie this assertion, as does the fundamental Constitutional right to pursue a livelihood. This rationale for denying tribal access to the off-reservation market is little more than a resurrection of the worst aspects of both measured separatism and assimilation. In the context of international trade, we would call these rules protectionism.

Tribal economies once encompassed whole regions of North America. Measured separatism, for all its short-term advantages, more or less put an end to broad geographic tribal economic activity. It has taken many years for tribal economies to reconstitute themselves and still many tribes are just barely getting off the ground. Sadly, just as some tribes are enjoying the fruits of an off-reservation market, it appears that the efforts of other tribes to participate in a global economy will be opposed, and perhaps thwarted, by American Indian policy."

Get the Story:
Matthew L.M. Fletcher: Tribes' economic plans stifled by policy (Indian Country Today 2/1)