Republican lawmakers can't keep their feet out of their mouths. This week, Representative Paul Gosar, R-AZ called Native Americans, "wards of the Federal Government," during a round table discussion on mining, land and forest issues.
At the meeting, the contentious topic of the land trade that will allow the country's largest copper mine to be built on land considered sacred by San Carlos Apaches was discussed. Gosar showed no grace or knowledge of history, when he used these words directly to an Apache representative, Phil Stago, at the discussion. Gosar especially showed his lack of historical knowledge, as American Indians became citizens in 1924 with the Indian Citizenship Act.
Stago summed it up.
"He kind of revealed the truth — the true deep feeling of the federal government: 'Tribes, you can call yourselves sovereign nations, but when it comes down to the final test, you're not really sovereign because we still have plenary authority over you,'"
The proposed Rio Tinto Copper Mine in Superior, AZ is the source of contention.
Both houses in Congress just approved a land swap which gives 2400 acres of U.S. Forest Service land land to a foreign national company for an open pit copper mine. The land also is considered sacred by the San Carlos Apache Tribe. John McCain and Jeff Flake worked ceaselessly for this land swap, and Flake admitted, that it would not have passed a stand alone test, and had to be tacked on to another bill to pass.
“It’s never good to see big packages with so many things in them -- that’s what we want to get away from,” Flake said. “But it’s been very difficult to move individual pieces of legislation over the last few years.”
Yeah, we get it. Bills should stand on their own and transparency is paramount. Oh, wait. What you say is not what you do.
In this case, the addition of the Arizona swap and the other land measures were never discussed in public, and were added during secret negotiations between the House and Senate Armed Services Committee. the deal was never publicly revealed until the House started work on passing the entire defense bill last week.
The land swap story was covered
here.
There are currently 85,000+ signatures on a White House petition to stop the land grab. Add your name here.
Gosar's comment shows the utter disrespect that many Republicans have for their constituents. One fourth of land in AZ is reservation land. Twenty one Arizona tribes are federally recognized as sovereign nations, not wards of the state. Tribal members are Arizona and American citizens. Gosar's comment sounds much like Mitt Romney's assessment that 47% of the American public is "dependent on the government for ..entitlements." It reveals their true thoughts about their fellow Americans. We're the takers and they're the givers.
Just another day in cR-AZy AZ. More to come, I know.