Sep 30 2008
Palin Unpopular Among Indigenous Alaskans
When Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate, the campaign was quick to present her political record in the state as one of reform against corruption. Rarely cited, if at all, was what her tenure has meant for issues of concern for Alaska Natives who comprise nearly one-fifth of the state’s population. Despite the echoes of “Drill, Baby Drill,†on the floor of the Republican National Convention, a majority of tribes in Alaska have continued to oppose Palin’s platform for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. As Governor, Palin has also opposed Alaska Native Subsistence rights to hunting, harvesting and fishing by filing an appeal seeking to invalidate such protections granted by the Federal Government. While the Republican Vice Presidential candidate speaks of her campaign’s energy policies for the nation’s future, indigenous communities in Alaska continue to suffer a crisis of rising heating oil and gasoline prices. A Senate Committee hearing on Indian Affairs that took place earlier this month in Bethel, Alaska highlighted the energy crisis faced by rural communities. Nearing ten dollars in some villages, high costs for fuels have increased already existing economic hardships.
GUEST: Steve Osborne, Executive Director of the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council
Related Links
- The Alaska Inter-Tribal Council
- Alaska Natives question Palin’s support
- Palin’s Poor Record on Alaskan Native Issues
- Alaska Natives question Palin’s support
One Response to “Palin Unpopular Among Indigenous Alaskans”
(More of the Story So Far, 10/2008)
Okay, let’s get back on the track. The Republic held onto slavery, when we could have gotten rid of it in the 1780s. The wagon driver went to the whip instead of the reins. We took Route Compromise of 1808 so long ago, it’s not going to be easy to get back to the liberty trail–especially after all the other wars and detours. Fortunately, the planet is still in galactic orbit! No civilized species has noted
Terran humanity, yet, and that’s good news!
Just consider the momentum of bigotry–the “Bradley Effect,” if you
want to talk about it in a nice way–racism and slavery, warfare and
imperialism, if you want to use words that are more descriptive.
If racism wins the Executive election this year, it will mean millions of disaffected citizens in the big U.S. cities.
Just to be clear, it will be as if a whole generation of urban youth, numbering many tens of millions, have been rebuffed by their country.
Obama is clearly favored, from the view from Los Angeles. Debates don’t change many minds. The candidates are too alike for that. The candidate you prefer seems victorious to you. When Sen. Obama debated Jim Lehrer and Sen. McCain, he did pretty well.
There is the 2002 difference, though. The Senator Obama vote that fell into the minority that opposed invading Iraq from the time the invasion was initiated. Don’t forget, there was a big minority in the legislature that did not support the Iraq invasion.
Are warfare, racism, more poverty & more extreme wealth, many prisons and few schools, many people and fewer jobs, immigrants who want to carry on the American Dream, and are denied that right–are all of our problems connected with each other in any way?
If Senator McCain wins–and it appears from the polling that Sen. McCain’s convention surge is over, and Obama is solidly in the lead–if McCain wins, will he make efforts to incorporate the disaffected into his plans? If Obama wins will he satisfy the need for change in the
electorate? The country is divided now, with a majority of the People having serious doubts about the wisdom of extended occupation of Iraq.
Whichever Senator wins, the People are going to demand change.
(Let’s wait a bit to comment more. By November 5, we may be talking about the Obama Effect, or the McCain Miracle.)