The Libertarian National Committee has adopted a resolution recognizing the sovereignty of Native American tribal nations and the Hawaiian Kingdom, encouraging party officers and members to explore pathways for their representation within the Libertarian Party.
The resolution was authored by Region 9 Representative Alex Flores, who previously floated the idea of developing a path for First Nations and Indigenous American affiliates within the party as a possible future goal for the committee. It was adopted unanimously during the LNC’s special meeting on July 5 in an 18-0 vote.
During a public Business List discussion in June, Flores first wrote that he wanted the party to consider a “state level” recognized affiliate that could allow tribes to be represented from their own jurisdictions rather than through the states where reservations are located. He called the party a “perfect vehicle” to help drive issues of sovereignty, which he said could in turn help its wider goal to “set the world free in our lifetime.”
As of this article, the text of the resolution has not been published to the public Business List or by the party itself online. However, an LNC member shared the full text on a Facebook group for LNC business following the meeting. In it, the Libertarian Party declared its support of “individual liberty, self-determination, and the sanctity of voluntary agreements and contracts,” acknowledging that Native American tribal nations originally entered treaties with the United States as “nation-to-nation agreements.”
The resolution states that the federal government has repeatedly failed to honor those obligations, which it treats as both a contract violation by the United States and a denial of recognized sovereignty. It also includes the Hawaiian Kingdom, specifically invoking Public Law 103-150, the 1993 congressional apology resolution in which Congress acknowledged the overthrow of Hawaii and apologized to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the United States.
The resolution further acknowledges that both tribal nations and the Hawaiian Kingdom occupy jurisdictional groups distinct from those state boundaries and structures usually defined by the federal government. It argues that meaningful participation requires that a people be represented within structures that “reflect their actual jurisdictional and sovereign reality,” and that participation outside that reality fails to constitute what it calls “genuine representation.”
“[T]he Libertarian Party holds that the United States federal government’s jurisdictional framework, having been imposed without the consent of tribal nations and the Hawaiian Kingdom, does not obligate the Libertarian Party to replicate those frameworks in its own recognition of free people and independent governments,” the resolution reads.
While the resolution does not mandate the party take any single policy action, it does commit the LNC to engaging with tribal nations and the Hawaiian Kingdom as sovereign nations consistent with Libertarian principles of voluntary association and self-determination. It also encourages party leaders and members to find ways to promote participation in the Libertarian Party by these nations and, in the case of Hawaii, its independence.
“[T]he Libertarian National Committee encourages officers and members of the Libertarian Party to explore pathways for meaningful participation and representation of these tribal nations within the Libertarian Party and to explore how best to empower them and the Hawaiian Kingdom to reclaim their independence,” the resolution concludes.
Average voters have so many front-&-center issues facing them that it’s unfortunate that the LNC is wasting time on tangents. I used to say this over and over to local chapters who spent ridiculous amounts of time splitting philosophical hairs on obscure issues instead of getting instant publicity by campaigning on the brand new grocery bag tax or the increased gas tax or the breaking news about the little old lady who was being charged an inordinate amount of money to have a sidewalk laid in front of her home. People vote their pocketbooks, and trying to attract tribal members (who get most of their money from the government or through casinos through sweetheart deals with the government) to break free from the government doesn’t seem like a winner.
“Why won’t they recognize that Jews are indigenous to Israel?”
Didn’t Abraham come from Ur?
Why won’t they recognize that Jews are indigenous to Israel?
This is an interesting approach to advancing political sovereignty. Perhaps tribes could become new associated states, like Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau. Maybe other ethnic or social groups in the US could petition for tribal recognition on their own land.