{"id":26230,"date":"2022-07-18T00:02:45","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T04:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=26230"},"modified":"2022-07-18T00:17:54","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T04:17:54","slug":"ivan-star-comes-out-democratic-principles-are-truly-indigenous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/07\/18\/ivan-star-comes-out-democratic-principles-are-truly-indigenous\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivan Star Comes Out: Democratic principles are truly indigenous"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Pine<\/a>
A thunderstorm is seen over Badlands National Park, a portion of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota that was taken by the federal government. Photo by Juliana Clifford \/ 350.org<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Pine Ridge Reservation, where only one third vote in tribal elections<\/div>\r\n
Monday, July 18, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Ivan Star Comes Out<\/DIV>\r\n
Native Sun News Today Columnist<\/DIV>\r\n
nativesunnews.today<\/A> <\/DIV> \r\n

<\/p>\r\nThose government and parochial school history, civics, and government classes have deeply and negatively influenced today\u2019s reservation residents. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nBack then we were told that democracy was born in ancient Greece and Rome. There may be a tiny bit of truth to that, but the colonists told us they invented democracy here in a \u201cnew\u201d land where there was \u201cnothing but wilderness.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nAs a result, many Lakota believe democracy is strictly a \u201cwhite man\u201d thing and steer clear of it. The real stinker here is the colonist\u2019s lack of truth about modern democracy\u2019s origin. The sooner we realize the fact that the colonists found democracy here on the continent, with the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse), known as the Iroquois Confederacy, the sooner we can progress and enjoy freedom.

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Ivan F. \r\nStar Comes Out. Photo courtesy Native Sun News \r\nToday<\/A><\/FIGCAPTION> <\/DIV><\/DIV>

<\/p>\r\nIn other words, democratic principles are indigenous. The \u201cFounding Fathers\u201d discovered democratic principles in the Iroquois\u2019 Great Law of Peace and took them, and they\u2019ve been taking everything since. This system, whose origins date back to the 1200s, formed a government that unified five sovereign nations in the 1400s, six in 1722. This is what the colonists found upon their arrival.

<\/p>\r\nThe colonist\u2019s biggest drawback is their inability to understand the concept of equality, with reference to individual status, property, rights, and opportunity. Thus, the U. S. Constitution was written for colonists only and ratified in 1788. Actually, they are still struggling with equality. Many believe they are a \u201csuperior race.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nThree years later, the racist nature of that constitution was addressed. However, the Bill of Rights (first ten amendments), ratified in 1791, was made for colonists only. Other amendments were made from 1795. Slavery was abolished in 1865. More amendments were made from 1868 to 1972. Thus, transforming the constitution from its discriminatory beginnings to the more egalitarian document we know today. It is a work in progress.

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