Hawai'i Wants Two Different Governments
Seceding from the union is so 1861. The new trend that's sure to catch on is, instead of separation from the government, creating an entirely new one. Just for the indigenous people!
Something called the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act passed through the House yesterday and also has the support of Hawai'ian-born President Barack Obama. So if they can hula the legislation through the Senate, then this will give descendants of native Hawai'ians a legitimate government working symbiotically with the U.S. government. As his brainchild, Hawaiian senator Daniel Akaka couldn't be more thrilled. It is, after all, known as "The Akaka Bill." Namesakes are kind of important to people.
But the National Review editors oppose the bill, noting that it "would portend the transfer of public assets, land, and political power from those who fail to satisfy the standard of ethnic purity to those who do." And then they discuss how it's like Native American reservations, but not at all like Native American reservations. Stew on that peyote for a while.
It's an odd proposition to have a parallel set of rules that affects one particular race and yet still fully recognizes another federal government. What's stranger is what it's doing all the heck way in Washington. This is all so one state tucked all the way down there in the Pacific can instantiate a new set of rules for a subset of people most people don't think about on a daily basis. Seems like something they could work out on their own. What's the harm, and what's all the commotion?
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