Now is the Time for Change

 

Native Americans and the US Government

The Great Binding Law of the Iroquois was the single most important model for the 1754 Albany Plan of Union, and later the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. It was the prime example of a successful noncoercive society with equal political, economic, social, and civil rights for all its people. Their model significantly influenced the formation of the US constitution and also (to some degree) the models of Marx and communism. American history books usually place the creative intellect for our constitution with Jefferson, Franklin, Madison etc, when in fact many of their ideas were actually taken from the Great Binding Law. It wasn't an advanced western society influencing the Indians, rather the other way around. The US constitution enacted a representative form of democracy rather than the participatory one and over the course of several centuries, these representatives diverted most of the remaining Native American lands out of the hands of its original stewards. Many issues surrounding the now age old promises made to Native American's remain in bureaucratic quagmires to this day. Certainly an argument for how a centralized system of democratic government has the potential to be subverted by money and corporate influence. That influence is hyperactive today in the government's heavy involvement in institutions such as The World Bank, IMF and the GATT agreements; which sacrifice cultures & ecosystems around the globe for the enrichment of a small number of multinational corporations and individuals.
There is both wisdom and heart in many of the ways and philosophies of the original native american cultures (attributes in short supply in our material society). Not all are applicable in today's world, but many are and could be used to make changes to better this little planet.