American Handegg is racist!!!1!!1111

Jacks:SmirkingRevenge said:

you realize that there's not a single Welfare program in the US that allows anyone to be "taken care of" enough to "live however" they want.
the anti-social and poor education issues that plague Indian reservations go MUCH deeper than government subsidies

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dragonfliet pretty much covered this, but, just to clarify, government intervention is to blame for the state the reservations are in today. This is the result of generations of social engineering, even if what is happening now is not what was intended to happen. We haven't exactly done the native Americans any favors, not even in retribution for our past actions.

dragonfliet said:

where there are few opportunities that can really be exploited to get ahead. What this means is that to succeed, you have to largely give up your culture and get the heck out of dodge, and go to school elsewhere, etc., and when you succeed, you certainly don't go back to the reservation because there is nothing to go back to, no jobs, no wealth, and no skilled labor force. This means that the talented individuals leave while the talentless, lazy butts stick around. The only real exception are those talented individuals that are fighting to preserve an important culture--but unfortunately, while they can do that, they can't also raise the standard of living for those around them.

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This is exactly right. And the people trying to keep their culture relevant aren't able to add any opportunities. The reservation I lived on basically had a gas station, a school, a cultural center and a hospital. Aside from a couple of backdoor restaurants, there was nothing else. Nowhere else to get a job, nobody to help you improve your situation...

Add on top of this the staggeringly awful racism that surrounds most reservations (a bunch of rednecks who started off with bad attitudes and who have largely only dealt with teenagers from the reservation being dicks, because that's what teens are),

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And awful racism between reservations and the general distrust of people on the reservation of outsiders.

The only real opportunity is in casinos, which are a toxic environment, even if with some success.

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And for many reservations the casino is actually miles away where it doesn't actually directly benefit the people on the reservation as much as the leaders of the reservation.

It is a very sad situation with no clear solutions.

Jacks:SmirkingRevenge said:

their social dilemmas go much deeper than government subsidies.

you've said nothing to show otherwise.

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I meant that subsidies are a major factor in how the Native Americans have been socially engineered into poverty. The social problems on reservations are inextricably tied to government subsidies, whether that is the only or even primary factor or not is kind of irrelevant.