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"This administration intends to restore tribal governments to their rightful place among governments of this nation and to enable tribal governments, along with state and local governments, to resume control over their own affairs." (President Ronald Reagan Statement on Indian Policy, 1983, Pub. Papers 96, 99 (1984)).

I'll take Ronald Reagan over the 1980 floor manager of the Democrat National Convention.

Like many CA citizens who naively voted for CA Prop 1A in good faith, I'm sure that Ronald Reagan (a man among men, as well as Presidents) had no idea how many subsequent laws and precedents (giving these "newly-formed" Indian nations on "newly-formed" Reservations plunked down in urban/suburban centers more rights and loopholes than non-Indian citizens living within these communities) would occur.

Go to the CERA website. It details what has happened since Reagan. You're in for a shock. Unless, of course, you think that non-Indians deserve to have their Constitutional rights taken away because of what was done to the Indians more than 150 years ago. There are a lot of people who justify Indian Gaming using that as an example.

Are you also for African-American Reparations? Jesse
Jackson's people are working with some Indian tribes trying to figure this one out. Jackson used to be against gambling, calling it the "poor man's tax." Yet some of his Rainbow Coalition members now believe that African Americans should be able to run casinos in urban centers and have the same types of benefits and exemptions as do the Native Americans because of slavery.

Where will it end? When will it saturate itself? Who are these poor, ignorant souls who gamble and believe that the odds favor them and not the house? The ABC's of gambling are: Addiction. Bankruptcy. Crime. These are all known factors that occur when a casino enters a community. The negative effects of casino gambling far outweigh the benefits unless one doesn't mind money being made off of the weakness, greed and power-driven nature of other human beings.

It's heart-breaking. Not only for my part Native American heritage--of which I am very proud of--but for the average citizen who gets sucked into the lure of "easy money" and winds up costing the taxpayer more when all is said and done.