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170 chapter seven Indian Gaming in the West Indian Entrepreneurship and Modern Political Economy When I see kids, come to a small rural school with $100 bills in their pockets [from tribal casinos] . . . believe me, it creates some problems in the community. We need to make sure our kids don’t lose their way with the greenbacks. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Northern Cheyenne, 1992 I have observed the same thing happening twice, and I think that it is worth mentioning here for the symbolic importance and to reinforce my argument that Indians are rebuilding their nations. I recall the first time I sat among twenty Native faculty and administrators in a meeting on the Gila River reservation in Arizona. On this delightful fall day early in the semester, a welcome relief from the desert’s late summer heat, one of the walls of the meeting room was mostly glass. As the meeting slogged along with sporadic inspiring moments, I gazed outside like several of the committee members sitting near me. Every now and then, a car would go by. Not too far away stood the tribe’s casino. In one of my countless gazes, I saw an armored truck leaving the reservation. If you will imagine this scenario and put it in a comparative historical context, it becomes quite remarkable. Over a hundred years ago, Indians on a reservation waited for days, weeks, for a wagon of supplies that had been promised via treaties. When it arrived, they lined up to receive their rations distributed by the Indian agent. A hundred years later, the tribal casino makes hundreds of thousands of dollars in a week to be hauled away in an armored truck—an experiential doppelganger-like irony. Indian gaming has introduced a new era of American Indian history and tribal relations with other peoples. It would seem that the tables have Indian Gaming in the West · 171 turned 180 degrees from the time of a hundred years ago when most Americans presumed that Native peoples would vanish with the close of the nineteenth century. Well, this has not happened, and Indians are still here and thriving in many communities. In fact, a new reality developed that is grudgingly changing how the mainstream views Indians. This is because the most difficult thing to change in the world is the attitude of a people. Prior to modernity, Native nations practiced what might be called moral economy. In such an economy, communities functioned to take care of their members with food supplies and whatever was needed that could be acquired through trade.1 For example, Plains Indians practiced a hunting and raiding economy that was in the best interest of the group, which shared food and supplies with its members. In a sense, the group was more important than the individuals. The moral economies of tribes centered on sharing wealth and distributing goods to make sure everyone had enough to eat, were comfortable, and were secure. As tribal moral economies came in constant contact with American capitalism, tribes readapted their communities to practice a political economy as Native leaders learned to negotiate with traders and government officials. With each decade passing, tribal leaders readapted again to modern political economy as they worked within the American capitalistic system. Modern political economy theory involves the practice and progress of a nation in five key areas: history, economics, law, political science, and sociology. It is suggested here that during the last hundred years and more tribes have adapted a modern political economy and Indianized according to a Native way of doing things via cross-cultural borrowing.2 Tribes are rebuilding their nations. Having survived the early decades of the twentieth century through their resilience, the postmodern era provided them with the opportunity to rebuild their communities and governments . The impressive result is a tribal modern political economy that accounts for the tremendous economic progress that many tribes have achieved under Indian self-determination. But there is something disturbing about this kind of progress. “Gambling”—should people make their living by it? Is it okay and legitimate? What is the legality for Indians? Is there a moral issue involved ? What is the government’s role? Should Indian tribes benefit from others’—including other Indians’—gambling addictions? These are some of the questions raised involving Native people and gambling. Everyone seems to have a view on the subject. Yet most people do not understand all that is involved. Because of its controversial nature, the subject of Indian...

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