- The federal government has not come anywhere near to upholding its obligations to Native American communities. Reservations should be vastly expanded by the powers of eminent domain to include productive lands. Additionally, the federal government should sponsor a development bank that focuses not only on big-ticket development but also microcredit programs on these new reservations. Tribal governments should be allowed if they choose to effectively nationalize non-native owned industries and either operate them as cooperatives for the benefit of tribal society or privatize them again into Native hands with fair distribution.
(I'd actually love to hear some thoughts about this, since I am in no way an expert on Native American affairs or tribal life, other than they're still being screwed over by a federal bureacracy that stifles development by a complex permit process and substandard lands left over from 120+ years ago)
I tend to take an opposite opinion to this. My view is that since all persons born in the U.S. are citizens, and all citizens are entitled to the privileges and immunities of citizenship such as the bill of rights, Indians as individuals are deserving of significantly greater protections than they are currently afforded because of quasi-sovereign tribal authority. Congress passed legislation in the 1960's attempting to incorporate some of the Bill of Rights on Indian reservations but the Santa Clara Pueblo case invalidated it. Since a majority of Indians no longer live on reservations, I feel like we should be moving away from empowering tribal governments and move towards integration. Reservations have abnormally high unemployment, and tend to stifle the overall economic well-being of individual Indians. I would prefer the elimination of racial preferences, prescribed due process protections for Tribal Courts, and the abolition of any residual aboriginal title among other reforms. Either individual indians are citizens or they aren't and they shouldn't be treated like second class citizens with a separate but not-quite equal system of governance. Encouraging individual citizens to self-segregate and think of themselves as somehow different on account of race will only increase the tension, hopelessness, and problems within the Indian community. The gradual shift from federal regulation, which as you mentioned imposes burdensome restrictions across Tribes without regard to geography, to a more federalist system of local communities utilizing the same State rules other local communities have, could help development. Plus, if tribal membership supposedly matters, the federal law permitting any tribe to have criminal jurisdiction over any Indian regardless of tribal membership needs reform too.
There are already a variety of federal programs which act effectively as microloan programs. The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act for instance creates grant and loan programs under HUD. The USDA similarly has programs for Indian housing and targeted farm loans. The Dep't of Education and HHS and Commerce all have Indian-specific development, loan and welfare programs. There are set asides in the Community Development Block Grant program. In addition to food stamps, there is a separate food aid program to offer additional assistance on reservations. Indian Tribes (and ANCs) may sometimes take advantage of loopholes in Small Business Administration contract set-asides without regard to the actual size of the businesses sub-contracted with.
On a separate note, I also think a lot more prescription drugs should be available over the counter. Things like contraception, albuterol inhalers, insulin, adderall, epi-pens, antibiotics, and codeine cough syrups.
