Native Voice One Podcast

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/20122838/NCAI-State-of-Indian-Nations-Low.mp3

Commentary by Mark Trahant

Inupiaq, Tsimshian and Haida college student Lydia Doza was invited to come to Washington for the State of the Union. She was recognized for her work with Native American youth.

Short takes: Republicans debate poverty, State of the Union

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/20122850/PovertySOTU.mp3

 

Republicans debate poverty, this week’s State of the Union, and President Obama’s last year in office. This is Trahant Reports.

GOP candidates for president gathered in South Carolina last week to talk about poverty in America. It was an event sponsored by the Jack Kemp Foundation. Kemp, who died in 2009, was a quarterback for the San Diego Chargers and the Buffalo Bills. He entered politics running for Congress in 1970 and described himself as a “bleeding heart Conservative.” He was no stranger to Native American issues, at one time promoting a tax-incentive for reservations and Alaska Native villages called “Promise Zones.” His ideas never become law but he did continually raise issues about equality within the Republican Party. So how are Kemp’s ideas received in today’s conservative era?

Well, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is a huge fan and helped organize the poverty conversation. In one of his first speeches, Ryan said, “There are the millions of people stuck in neutral: 6 million people who have no choice but to work part time, 45 million people living in poverty. Conservatives need to have an answer to this--because we do not write people off in this country. We just don’t."

The conversation in South Carolina, however, was less inspiring. Candidates promised more of the same Republican ideas: Turn more federal programs over to the states, always a problem for tribal governments, and reject any national increases minimum wage. And, of course, repeal the Affordable Care Act.

TUESDAY is President Barack Obama’s last State of the Union. He will outline his vision for his final year in office. This will be an interesting speech. He’s facing a Republican-controlled Congress, so it’s not likely that any new legislation will be serious. But it will be the ideal time for him to reflect on his two terms in office. Agree or not with his politics, Obama has been remarkably successful. He entered office when the country’s economy was collapsing, the worst crisis since the Great Depression, and fighting two wars. Then Obama has reshaped the health care system, improving the funding for the Indian Health Service, And, he worked with other nations to forge a climate change plan. That’s a lot for nearly 8 years.

One of the First Lady’s guests at the State of the Union will be Lydia Doza representing the “Generation Indigenous” initiative. The Alaska Native works to get more young women involved in the STEM fields, or, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. One of the cool things she does is teach others how to “code, the tool to write formulas that make computer programs work.

You have to say that Generation Indigenous represents much of this president’s commitment to Indian Country.

 

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/20122859/RedoCounterfactual.wav

 

The first votes in the presidential election are less than a month away. This is Trahant Reports.

2016 starts with one more debate about the Affordable Care Act. The House of Representatives is set to pass this week yet another repeal of the law. This one will actually get to President Obama's desk ... where it will be quickly vetoed.

You see the bill has no chance of becoming law. It's just a statement, saying that Republicans are against the Affordable Care Act (as if we did not know that).

I have been wondering about what statements Indian Country could make about elections -- we can raise an idea even if we know it will not become law. One way to do that is using what's called a "counterfactual." This is an exercise in thinking that starts with "what if ..." and then you propose a speculative, even preposterous idea.

What if the framers of the U.S. Constitution had gone beyond the commerce clause and really incorporated tribal nations into the mainstream of political discourse?

My answer to my own counterfactual: Add tribes to the Electoral College.

It’s not like the United States is a democratic model now. It's not representative. The Senate represents millionaires not people. There are 38 million citizens in California who get the same two votes out of 100 as the 576,000 residents of Wyoming. Collectively, Indian Country has eight times as many people as Wyoming and not a single vote in the Senate. By land mass, Indian Country's 50-plus million acres are bigger than almost half the states. Even breaking that number up by population, Cherokee’s 819,000 people Is still larger than Wyoming.

My counterfactual argument starts with the premise that the system is not democratic, so include tribes. If not in the House or Senate, then why did not the Electoral College, the small number of people who actually will elect the next president?

How could that work? Based on the number of tribal members or citizens, a grouping “tribal nations” would add up to at least ten, almost eleven electoral college votes.

It would work better because the presidential debate narrows to about ten competitive states. The other 40 states already greatly favor either Democrats or Republicans. So that narrow field of competition makes it nearly impossible for topics such as federal-tribal relations, Treaty rights, or subsistence to get attention.

Another problem with the crazy way the U.S. elects presidents, is that the electoral college could actually tie with 269 electoral votes. If that happened, the House of Representatives would decide the next president, setting up a certain Republican win. In 1800 Thomas Jefferson won that way.

In my counterfactual, Indian Country could break that tie.

And we could host a platform for a broader discussion about issues such as the place of tribal nations in the country and in the world.

The problem with a counterfactual is that at some point that “what if?” falls apart. You can’t prove speculation.

But what Indian Country can do ... Is go out and vote. That would be the best method of making this system a bit more democratic.

I am Mark Trahant reporting.

The Electoral College from 2012 shows a “blue” Nevada. That state shows the new demographics of America where white voters are shrinking while numbers of American Indians, Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans are growing. (Graphic from National Archives.)

 

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20122906/CAMPAIGNS.mp3

 

It’s easy to get confused by this year’s campaign for president. This is Trahant Reports.

So if you get information from watching television or from Internet rumblings, you might think Republicans are driving toward a massive victory.

And why not?

Donald Trump packs thousands of people into every one of his rallies and the television ratings for G.O.P. debates are ginormous.

The problem with that narrative is that it misses the demographic shift that’s been occurring in America.

Any Republican candidate for president starts off in a deep hole.

Why? When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 the population of the United States was 80 percent white. Today it’s about 63 percent white.

One demographic profile of voters by The National Journal shows how dramatically the country changed since Reagan’s landslide. He won with the support 56 percent of white voters in 1980. But in 2012 Mitt Romney earned 59 percent of white voters and still lost by 4 percentage points.

The country’s diversity trend is just beginning. The U.S. Census reports that American Indians and Alaska Natives grew at 1.4 percent since 2013, compared to 0.5 percent for whites.

Even more diverse than millennials are those younger than 5 years old. In 2014, this group became majority-minority for the first time and in 13 years the majority of new voters will be people of color, in twenty-five years a majority of all voters.

So here’s the deal: ignore every poll you see that compares one Republican versus one Democrat. In our system, you have to think instead: Which states?

And it’s in these state contests where the American Indians and Alaska Native voters are becoming more important, especially as part of a coalition.

Nevada is a good place to start examining these trends. In 2012, Nevada voters were about 65 percent white. Next year’s voters are projected to drop to about 60 percent.It's possible to build a winning coalition made up of  some white voters (a third or so) plus significant majorities from Latino, African American, Asian American and Native Americans.

Other states where such coalitions are possible: Alaska, Arizona, Wisconsin, and, eventually, Oklahoma.

What’s striking about this election so far is that the Republican candidates are not even trying to build a coalition with minority voters.

As we enter 2016, yes, it’s going to be a crazy year with all sorts of scenarios possible ranging from fights at the conventions to third-party runs. Sure, it’s even possible, that one of the Republican candidates will whip up magic and unite a coalition of voters. But that would take words designed to reach consensus with the new majority of voters. One of the candidates will have to recognize that the road to the White House is red, brown, black and young.

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20122919/compromise1.mp3

 

How do you lead in a time of chaos? This is Trahant Reports.

The most recent Republican presidential debate was like looking at a traffic accident. You drive by not wanting to peek, but then you do, and it’s awful, so you think, “why did I do that?”

About the closest thing to reality was when Jeb Bush pointed out that Donald Trump is a chaos candidate who would be a chaos president. True. But that idea fits Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, and perhaps others on the stage. And worse, the idea of willful chaos fits the majority of Republican voters right now. It’s these voter groups that are demanding destruction in Washington, D.C.

But in Washington, there are Republicans who are actually trying to govern. That means make choices, reach compromise, and make government work.

The new Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, announced an end of the year deal with Democrats on a spending bill to fund the government for next year.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 is a 2,000-plus page bill that wraps up spending across the government, including funding for the Indian Health Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs including contract support costs.

The bill means no more fights over Planned Parenthood, the Environmental Protection Administration, zeroing out the Affordable Care Act, or a shut down of government.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans won every position.

Most Democrats aren’t keen on a provision that ends a ban on the export of U.S. oil (although that provision has been championed by North Dakota Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp working with Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski.)

Many Democrats want t to radically restructure energy programs, focusing much more on renewable energy that has less impact on global warming. But such a plan would never pass Congress.

So there was horse trading.

Democrats let the Republicans lift the ban on selling U.S. oil and Republicans extended tax credits on wind and solar energy. There was also no budget gimmicks to undo the progress made with the UN deal reached in Paris.

Compromise.

Republicans did have to give up a lot (partly because so many of their members would vote no on any budget). Republicans were unsuccessful in getting tighter restrictions on refugees, but they did win a few points.

One especially disappointing provision in the bill is a continued ban on funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence. It’s one thing to be against gun control, but to not even study the problem? C’mon.

The basic problem for Speaker Ryan is that the only way this budget passes Congress is with Democratic votes.

Too many Republicans will vote no on any budget that is not ideologically pure.

But unlike the presidential candidates,

John Oceguera is a member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, and is the first Native American to serve as Speaker in Nevada history.

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20122931/GunViolence.wav

 

The news cycle often defines the political story. So instead of a thoughtful conversation about climate change, or a vote in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or even guns and violence, we turn on the television and terrorism dominates our discourse. This is where the narrative of fear trumps the data.

This is Trahant Reports.

Yes, terrorism is a problem. And It’s frightening. But it’s hardly the most pressing (or deadly) one that this nation faces.  Vox World  (before the San Bernardino massacre) pointed out: “More than 10,000 Americans have been killed every year by gun violence. By contrast, so few Americans have been killed by terrorist attacks since 9/11 that when you chart the two together, the terrorism death count approximates zero for every year except 2001. This comparison, if anything, understates the gap: Far more Americans die every year from (easily preventable) gun suicides than gun homicides.”

That is certainly true in Indian Country.

A recent study by the University of North Dakota found that firearms are used 41 percent of the time in suicides, a significantly higher rate than with other ethnic groups.

But that’s not a message Congress will consider. Right now, even funding studies about gun violence is seen as biased and anti-gun. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been blocked from research for more than two decades. “The amount of money available today for studying the impact of firearms is a fraction of what it was in the mid-1990s, and the number of scientists toiling in the field has dwindled to just a handful as a result,”The New York Times said. “No other field of inquiry is singled out in this way.”

Instead Congress is eager to spend billions of dollars on military operations that’s don’t solve terrorism and, in the case of Daesh, or ISIS, it was the war effort itself that clearly fueled the group’s rise to power.

John Oceguera, a candidate for Congress in Nevada, made national headlines by renouncing his membership in the National Rifle Association. He said,  “I am law-abiding gun owner, and have been a Life Member of the National Rifle Association (NRA). I grew up in a family of hunters.”

Oceguera is a member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe. He said this country can no longer ignore gun violence. He said the NRA opposes any legislation that would help keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, criminals and the mentally ill,  and others whose hands they shouldn’t be in …  Therefore, I resign my membership in the NRA,

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20122941/120915.mp3

 

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20122951/ObamaCareRepeal.wav

 

Republicans who serve in the House or the Senate should be asked a simple question: How would you fund the Indian health system?

THIS IS TRAHANT REPORTS.

WHY THAT QUESTION? Because the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is a mechanism that has added new dollars to many tribal, nonprofit and Indian Health Service clinics and hospitals. So without Obamacare, it’s important to find out just what is the alternative?

Thursday night the Senate voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act using the budget reconciliation process. The House will have to agree to the amendments and then it will be sent to President Obama. He’s already promised a veto.

But this is a presidential election year. So the next president, possibly, a Republican, would be in position to sign such a bill into law.

That makes the Senate action real — and repeal discussion ought to start, with, how would you take away insurance coverage from millions of people?

To my way of thinking: Medicaid expansion has been the most successful provision of the Affordable Care Act. A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control found that “the number of uninsured persons continued to decline from 2013. In the first 6 months of 2015, 28.5 million persons of all ages (9.0%) were uninsured at the time of the interview—7.5 million fewer persons than in 2014 and 16.3 million fewer than in 2013.”

The law is working.

The Indian health system has a lot of money at stake in this debate.

The Indian Health Care Improvement Act is a chapter in the Affordable Care Act. So a repeal, depending on the language, could end many initiatives funded through that law.

Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski voted for the repeal (even though she had expressed concerns about the provisions in the bill to strip funding from Planned Parenthood). Yet in her statements on the Senate floor, and in a recent op-ed, the senator explained why she is against the law without so much as a single line about its impact on healthcare for Alaska Natives.

Alaska does have a special problem with the Affordable Care Act because of high premiums. And that’s worth fixing. But Alaska also has much to gain from the law, especially the expansion of Medicaid and new funding streams for the Alaska Native health care system. So the logic must be: In order to fix one problem we should make things worse?

The vote Thursday night was absent any discussion of Indian health. It’s as if Republicans hope no one will notice that the Affordable Care Act includes the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

In an ideal world, Republicans would offer this alternative to Obamacare. They could say the United States will directly fund treaty obligations as an entitlement without requiring insurance or other bureaucratic steps. Now that would be a real answer to the question.

 

U.S. Senators examine the Tribal Law and Order Act five years after its passage

Advocates rally for Native women and children in front of U.S. Supreme Court

First Nations people hopeful about new government after prime minister’s speech

https://nv1-offload-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20122955/nnn120715.mp3

The 57th Annual Wrangler National Finals Rodeo has millions of dollars and the 2015 World Championships up for grabs.

Word With A Champ travels to Las Vegas for daily five-minute reports. We will pay close attention to our Native contestants as they compete in 10 go-rounds in the city of lights.