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Jewish World Review August 19, 2005 / 14 Av, 5765 A manifest destiny in reverse By Rich Lowry
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
If Jefferson Davis could reach from the grave to co-sponsor
congressional legislation, he would presumably want to plug the
Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. He would love the
idea of creating a new government separate and distinct from the
federal government — without firing a shot. That the enterprise is
premised on a blatant racialism might please him too.
The U.S. Supreme Court said, shortly after the Civil War, that
we have "an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible
states." But that was so 1868. In 2005, Congress is preparing to
allow anyone with Native Hawaiian blood to pick up and leave. That
this is even being discussed shows that multiculturalism, if its
logic is fully played out, is the ideology of national suicide.
The bill, sponsored by Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka, defines as a
"Native Hawaiian" anyone who is a direct descendant of the
aboriginal people living there before 1893. This is a version of the
old, infamous "one drop" test. These Native Hawaiians — roughly
240,000 in Hawaii — would convene an Interim Governing Council, a
little like in Iraq. It would write a constitution establishing a
Native Hawaiian government that would then negotiate with the
federal government over, among other things, what lands would be
transferred to it.
The bill has six Republican co-sponsors in the Senate, and a
real chance to pass. Apparently, a deal was cut between the Alaskan
and Hawaiian delegations, with the Hawaiians supporting drilling in
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in exchange for Alaskan support
for Native Hawaiian secession. Too bad the deal wasn't for the new
entity to be located in the far reaches of ANWR, where asphalt-happy
Alaska Rep. Don Young could have then funded its very own four-lane
highway. As it is, the Hawaiian proposal strikes at our integrity as
a nation.
It is spectacularly unconstitutional. The 15th Amendment forbids
racial restrictions on voting. The Akaka bill is wholly dependent on
such restrictions. The Supreme Court in 2000 struck down an
arrangement that permitted only Native Hawaiians to vote for board
members of a state agency providing services to Native Hawaiians.
The Akaka scheme takes the unconstitutional principle from that
arrangement and makes it the basis for a new government.
The conceit of the bill is that Native Hawaiians will merely get
the same status as American Indian tribes, which exist as sovereign,
extraconstitutional governments. But such tribal governments weren't
created by congressional legislation. They already existed when
territory around them was incorporated into the U.S. Congress can
recognize new tribes, but they have to meet standards, including
existing as a distinct community and exercising sovereignty. Native
Hawaiians do neither.
Native Hawaiians never exercised sovereignty either, since the
late, not-so-great monarchy of Queen Liliuokalani ruled over
everyone in Hawaii regardless of race (how broad-minded of her). The
bill leans heavily on a historically tendentious Apology Resolution
that passed Congress a decade ago and blamed the U.S. for the
queen's overthrow in 1893, an event that supposedly so victimized
Native Hawaiians they now need their own government more than 100
years later. Since when do we feel badly about the fall of monarchs?
The bill represents manifest destiny in reverse, as the cult of
ethnic victimization acts to undermine the legitimacy of America and
pull it apart at the seams. If it passes, it may well lend support
to Hispanic revanchist groups who want to take back the American
Southwest. Sound crazy? Give it time.
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© 2005 King Features Syndicate |
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