Me dino read this sad post a couple of days ago but thought of nothing to comment.
Now it suddenly hits me that what we see here for an enriching themselves ruling class is reminiscent to pig behavior in George Orwell's Animal Farm.
These American native pigs consider themselves as "All (Indians) are equal, but some (Indians) are more equal than others."
In this scenario, greedy pigs get to decide who is less than equal as a device to enrich those left over.
But pigs being pigs--well, let me put it this way: those left over, who are not in the more than equal class, must be in a cold sweat each time they approach their mail box. .

I'm ok with that, personal responsibility is a good thing....

That's how Rome worked during its republic period.

So you propose that we elect two co-Presidents for life and one of them actually leads troops into battle. Of course, the troops would be the other citizens who voted for war, so that would be Congress. I would like to see that.

Excellent response and well reasoned. I am with you on your statement of Austin and your acceptance of gay rights and gun rights. My personal ethics allow for anyone to do anything, as long as it does not impact me or my family. As such, I have problems with all political parties, and with politics in general, in that in all political systems, it is a question of power and abrogation of someones personal freedom to appease the larger group. So far, I believe the Spartan system of politics appears to be the best one devised.

You bring up several cogent questions. Right now, I am reading Outlaw Platoon by Sean Parnell. (I am not much for war stories, or for war, but I am working in a military unit with combat veterans, and this was book was recommended for its foibles. My personal interest is more in leadership lessons.) My point is that after months of combat with death and wounds at hand, the platoon gelled into a family based on love. They were devoted to each other; and the leader was the exemplar of that. So, yes, the tribal thing has considerable survival value.

But, as you note, it is easy to tear those bonds.

And, as you say, it can be enlightened self-interest that causes that.

I agree, also, with the "fly in the ointment" problem of a Gulch community. In fact, I joined one in the 1970s; and it imploded before it got started. That is why I am an advocate of urban culture: civilization is literally city life. As the peasants on the feudal manors knew, "Stadtluft macht frei." City air makes you free. Get out of that farming village of 300 and get to some place with a mixed group of outsiders who don't know or care about each other and you will find freedom and opportunity for yourself.

The Valley in Atlas Shrugged was a literary device, not a plan of action. Moreover, at the detail level, the first thing they did when they "banded together" was spread out as far as they could. And their "shared values" were very basic, not very particular. The composer's best friend was tone-deaf. Ragnar's crew did not come from the Valley because the other Strikers disagreed with his choice of actions -- though they accepted his "not-really-altruistic" gifts of gold...

I don't know where you live, but here the automobile repair shops seem all to be named "Salvation" or "Victory" or "Glory." They do good work. That's all I care about. Their philosophical contradictions are their own. (And we will not get into the fact that many gas stations are franchised by Muslims.)

Austin, Texas, is a liberal city in a conservative state. It is the best - and worst - of both worlds. I accept both the gay rights and gun rights, but they also come with violations of property rights and denial of reproductive rights. A good philosophy would sort those out, once enough people read the right books.

You do present one aspect of the issue, Mike. My take on it though was more of a "get off the ship" moment (i.e. on the lifeboat in the middle of the ocean). The Native Americans have sold themselves off as a special interest group, as a group, and then when they recieve that status, they seem to then descend into the "dump who you can" gang, when their culture is one of unity and strength as a group. My point was the strength of culture is not enough to bind poeople together, when enlightened self interest takes over. A cautionary tale when you consider the Galt concept of producers working together for their own common good. Should producers have a small band within that adopt the same idea, it would destroy the whole philosophy, don't you think?

There is nothing wrong with greed. The problem is self and self-interest, or, in this case, the lack of them. These "victims" all expected permanent entitlements based on inheritance. Note that whether on the basis of affiliation or blood, the intention is the same: automatic membership in a group with entitlements.

I don't know about you, but I have ancestors in several places in Europe where the native there have entitlements. I am not motivated to leave the Land of Opportunity.

As a PS: If you can be enrolled or unenrolled, you can be re-enrolled... These are internal squabbles. By comparison, you must be familiar with the so-called "junk bond" boom of the 1980s that re-invigorated many corporations. What would you say to a group of managers who complained that they lost their townhouses and other perquisites because the shareholders "disenrolled" them from their "entitlement"?

... and stopping to think about it a bit more... Wasn't Galt's Strike a kind of "disenrollment by the enrolled"?