Opinion: Respect Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's gaming rights

The stage is being set to roll back to the good old days — when Native American rights and treaties were routinely trampled upon as a matter of course. The good old boy's network is again circling the wagons and arrogantly entrenching itself against the mythical onslaught of any semblance of Native American empowerment. Even in the face of overwhelming logical reality, with emphatic evidence that it is better to keep the bulk of casino revenue within the state than to broker the state's potential largesse to outside interests.

The current Cowboys and Indians guiding principle of some regional legislators will surely see our net gains become our net losses. This path, if pursued, will completely undermine Gov. Deval Patrick's resolve to finally treat our Native American brethren with some modicum of civility and sovereignty. Likewise any hope of renegotiating the regional beneficiaries so that the under-proportionate shares of the anticipated educational revenue streams currently going elsewhere instead of to New Bedford and Fall River will be all but lost unless the Wampanoag vision is realized. While New Bedford's dilemma can be readily appreciated, it still does not justify intentionally clouding the issue.