SWOyate

For the past two years, I have received a large number of similar questions in regard to changing the SWO Tribal Government from its current old-school, good ‘ole boy system of Junior-High Politics and Legal System into what it is supposed to be…a form of government that takes care of the people with equal rights, a true democracy.

The answer to the questions are not simple, and that change will be met with great anger as many have become accustomed to making an easy living off the current system.  Even the mention of taking away authority from the almighty Tribal Council is met with bullying and threat tactics directly or indirectly under the current system.  This is the opposite of democracy, and even traditional values if that is your argument.

The most recent poll on this Blog was a survey question on whether or not folks thought that their SWO Tribal Government acts more like a “dictatorship” or a “democracy”. The results were: 87 votes for Dictatorship (83%), 18 votes for Democracy (17%)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dictatorship

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/democracy

The Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2011 was “The Protestor”.  It appears that Tribal Government is not so different from the rest of the world after all…except in that maybe we like to talk about doing something more than actually doing something about changing our destiny.

http://www.time.com/time/person-of-the-year/2011/

Wherever folks are, 2011 has been “A Year of Unrest”…from dictatorships falling in the Middle East… to late summer and current where the 99% have settled into an increasing number of American Cities…marches, mobs and occupations.

http://occupywallst.org/ and   http://howtooccupy.org/

There are plenty of resources out there on the above two “Occupy” web sites that share the news and show anyone how the “Occupy” movement was begun and how it is doing.

In researching the strategies used to change governments, I found a small office at Harvard University that has created a handbook that has been and is being used as a how-to model in many of the countries in the news today.  The ideas for Nonviolent Revolution have been around for years and the strategies used to achieve democratization across the Globe were written by Dr. Gene Sharp, an American Professor at Harvard’s Albert Einstein Institution.  www.aeinstein.org

The examples in the following handbook are foreign Countries.  However, there are similarities to the struggles experienced at the hand of unjust and unfair government activity felt by folks in small communities and countries to small Tribes in the Midwest.

Handbook: From Dictatorship to Democracy

If you break down the power and you take it back…you can create a new democracy that works for the people with fairness and equality.  However, you must have a plan for what happens afterwards, if you do not have something different from the previous – everything will go back to the comfort of the previous.

The main threads in all of the revolutions are: NONVIOLENT DEFIANCE, and UNIFICATION OF THE PEOPLE. The people have to do it together… a handful of Kunsi’s without support of family and relatives will not suffice.

“If you can identify the sources of a governments power, such as legitimacy, such as popular support or institutional support…and then you know on what that dictatorship depends for its existence…and since all those sources of power are dependent upon the good will, cooperation, obedience and help of people and institutions…then your job becomes fairly simple…all you have to do is shrink that support, that legitimacy, that cooperation, that obedience…and the regime will be weakened…and you can take those sources of power away…the regime will fall.  The Eureka-Point.” ~Dr. Gene Sharp~

This small web log has made a positive difference because it is a form of non-violent defiance, a threat of civil disobedience…a source of information that can be shared…and their reaction to everything on here shows that your opinion matters, that you matter, and that you are a threat if you are not obedient to their system.

Update: 11/15/11

It appears that a majority of the folks sitting in leadership positions have lost their minds and gone crazy with the political power of the position for which they temporarily enjoy.

Since the beginning of all of this ridiculous relationship between myself and those few that are still there on Council and in DNGE….for some reason….they have taken everything PERSONAL.  Much like the playground bullies that loved to tease everyone else, especially those that are easy to pick on…but when you tease them back – they take it personal and get mad…resort to the only thing they know…to fight.  And, that’s fine if you are pre-teen and maybe even into teen, but when you are in a leadership position…it is time to put away those childish ways and step up into adulthood.  Adults are supposed to lead by example with courage and moral clarity, be your kid’s hero…

Do you see the folks filling those positions as hero’s? I know one that fancies himself as a great “politician”, which is delusional at best…because at the end of the day…What has truly been accomplished?

Everything is a house of cards, ready to fall onto the people at any given moment…it is that FEAR that the attorneys use on the gullible one’s to follow in the footsteps of the others, to fall prey to group-think…the unsustainable kind.

The constant cash shortage and uncontrolled spending policies have put the SWOyate Grandchildren over $100,000,000 (one-hundred million) in debt over the next 40 years.  What is left for them?

Please, sit down and truly think about things…we have made over a 1,000,000,000 (One-Billion Dollars) from gaming since we started in the 1980’s. And what has that money turned us into? All we see is fighting and the temporary leaders using the Tribes money to hurt or control the rest of the people.  Everywhere I have gone, there is that underlying FEAR that everyone has as the reason why they do not stand up to elected community members…they are supposed to be our relatives, good people, not feared…this type of thinking is sad to see from the pride I remember in the community growing up in Enemy Swim. We didn’t fight each other, especially not over a few dollars…well at least the folks I grew up with didn’t.

True Tribal Leaders will lead the community to prosperity, building sustainable programs and entities that help those in need and teach those in need to create more with less…bring in outside resources, not keep spending the limited gaming funds and calling that success…anyone can spend money…but creating it and earning it is much more difficult.

I keep hearing how great some people were in their positions on Council or as executives…and then I ask this question.  ”Where are they now?”  Without control of the peoples money, they are not taking leadership roles in the community to help create a better place…instead all I have seen is those that were, lurk and wait for their chance to get back in again…its a vicious cycle….and it can be a long wait for some…which in that time, they get bitter and vindictive and hurt anyone that threatens their temporary little kingdoms built on the people’s money….your money, your children and future generations money. A system built on petty greed.

What can we do then? is the question that follows that discussion.  We have to work together, as a community, as a true tiospaye…to come up with solutions for the issues that are not being addressed…stop getting personal with fellow tribal members over vanity and personal insecurities.  Create what we need in order to live better lives and create opportunities for everyone that did not previously exist.  It is hard work. It requires sacrifice and service…and it will take time. Nothing great was ever built in a day.  How long will it take?  The longer you put it off, the longer it will take.

Remember, the basis of good work is Courage and Moral Clarity.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is more than just a proverb…it takes both Courage and Moral Clarity to actually do it. I strongly believe that there are more good people out there than there are bad one’s…we can do anything if we put our minds together, but we have to do it together.

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Original: 11/07/11

Tomorrow/Tuesday, November 8, 2011, at Tribal Council, a Settlement of my LawSuit is being presented to Tribal Council by the Tribe’s Staff Attorney Deb Flute.

The preliminary today at an informal Council meeting ended with Councilman Roberts adamantly wanting the case to go to Tribal Court. This decision rests with all of Council, not just Councilman Roberts, and they have to vote on it…just like every other settled case and severance payment.

Why is this a big deal you may ask. What you have is a very simple case of someone (me) being retaliated against by the former Chairman and Council with the only power they had…to remove Severance…something that has never been done before or since..to anyone, just lucky me.  The Tribe pays severance and settles cases almost monthly. For some reason they are making a very large expense of the people money to not pay the severance that is owed to me….it has the appearance from my view that this is PERSONAL for them.

The major problem is that it is the peoples money that is being spent, not Councilman Roberts’, not Chairman Diaz, not Deb Flute…the People’s Money…YOUR MONEY…

The Tribe’s Legal Department has already spent over $10,000 in legal fees with BlueDog Law Office on this case to defend against an $8,000 severance Law Suit! This is a Jury Trial, and the Tribe will easily spend another $20,000 to $30,000 to defend against an $8,000 severance suit.  Does this make sense to you? Who makes these judgment calls to spend more than a case is even worth?  Makes you wonder who is really in control of the Tribe….

Why is Deb Flute not doing the legal work herself on a simple severance case? Recently, she helped rush the DNGE CEO to pay Danny White’s severance. They didn’t take any money out of his check and he violated his employment contract, a number of laws, signed away sovereignty and shorted Net Income by almost $15Million.  I merely hired an attorney to help get all of this brought into the light, stated the Truth and STOOD UP to them…and am getting called a Fraud by the Tribe’s attorneys, among other names now…

The only winner here seems to be BlueDog Law with Deb Flute very irresponsibly spending cash on outside legal fees for work she should be doing herself…which in the defamatory legal paperwork filed towards me she was calling me a Fraud for hiring a consultant…so by her own definition of hiring an outside consultant, she defined herself in the process…as BlueDog Law is an outside legal consultant ~ a conundrum I am sure.

This type of abuse of the peoples money makes no sense whatsoever, it is very wasteful and arrogant of the Tribal Attorney and the Councilman that has a personal vindictiveness towards me.

Lastly, I received an upset call last week that Councilman Roberts was stating to my family that he is going to “hit me” the next time he sees me for “blasting him” on the internet…and that he doesn’t care if he goes to jail for doing it.  Mr. Roberts, you are completely out of line…you really should grow up, stop trying to bully me or anyone else.  Threatening me will not solve any of the Tribe’s problems that you are supposed to be fixing.  I suggest that you focus your anger on the issues you are being overpaid to work on…such as: knocking out the Tribe’s white collar crime, massive debt crisis, housing shortage, healthcare shortage, homelessness, elder and youth services, economic development and job creation.

We will see if a common sense decision is common tomorrow with Tribal Council.