The history of the welfare state in America is best explained not by metaphor but by actual examples. Yes, I could point to President Lyndon Johnson’s failed ‘Great Society’ – a bid to buy black votes with taxpayer’s dollars and to keep those same voters on welfare generation after generation. But I won’t.
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The American Indians provide a better example. Even though hunter/gatherers are in no way capitalists, they could be said to be ‘early libertarians’ of a sort.
To the left, we see Sitting Bull’s mother, the great man, himself, his daughter and grandson – in captivity. The rifle he holds is a prop. By this stage of his life, Sitting Bull and his family were on welfare, enjoying the largess of a federal government who put a people on food stamps forever. Allowing the Red Man to hunt game and roam at will would simply not do. Better that they stay on reservations and receive government hand-outs.
I don’t know how many of you readers have spent time on Indian Reservations, but they’re generally not examples of a prosperous people. They are a proud people made wards of the State.
Indian Gaming changed a lot of that and through the gift of capitalism, many of the reservations are blossoming as a rose exposed to nourishment and sunlight. When you give people opportunity in an unregulated environment, it’s amazing to see what can be done.
This is your life in the welfare state:
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| Indian Home (pre-capitalism) |
This is your life when you have the freedom to be a capitalist:
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| Pala Indian hotel/casino – Southern California |
Great shout out for Pala Casino! It's just a short drive out the 76 for us. We overnight there a couple times a year. Great deals on rooms. We don't gamble either.
It's a short hop for me as well. And the outdoor advertising in the area is rife with billboards of upcoming acts in the theater. But the point of welfare culture vs capitalist culture couldn't be contrasted better.
Hmmm… Welfare as Genocide. Interesting theme to be explored.
Amazing what people can do when the government gets out of the way.
Has anyone done a racial breakdown of the casino employees in New Jersey?
I don't think Indians live in the casino or anywhere close. So what keeps the Indian on the reservation besides poor education? Could it be they don't have to pay taxes since they are independent nations?
The Indians like to say the Buffalo have returned when refering to their gambling industry and I agree. Institutionalized welfare is a crime! There are many reservations in Nevada and they are much like the pictures you display. The ability and requirement to earn a living changes the landscape dramatically!
Good point, and when you add in the booze, that DOES knock the Indians down, and MANY have contributed to that downfall over many, many years…
I don't know how letting them to build casinos is making them better off. Besides, they would have never been the "wards of the state" if not for europeans that stole their original way of life.
Your premise is absolutely revolting. These people were nearly annihilated, their population down to 500,000 by the turn of the century, which qualified them as an endangered species, so bad that many tribes no longer exist. It was worse than Hitler vs. Jews. The vast majority didn't have any means of becoming 'capitalist'. Their cultures were essentially destroyed. Now try to imagine a racist, murderous alien culture killing capitalists at will, no different than Charles Manson wiping out as many worthless 'pigs' as possible, shuffling off those who survive to wastelands. No jobs, no money, no nothing. If you can't handle the bizarre new alien culture, f*ck you. Imagine it not happening to someone else, but to YOU.
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