Lost in Joe Biden's nomination of New Mexico Representative Deb Haaland to lead the Department of Interior is the fact she is a native American member of the Jemez Pueblo.  In other words, she is a 35th generation member of the Tribe.  How many other Americans can claim their ancestry in America as far back as 35 generations?  I know I can't.  Although my American ancestry can be traced back to the 1870's, Haaland's goes back much, much further - like before North America was even "discovered" by folks hailing from Europe.  In other words, Haaland is a real American, while the rest of us are merely immigrants.  And this has significance why?  Anyone who knows American history can tell you that our country has never been keen on considering Indigenous Americans worthy of any respect.
 (See: www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/12/18/what-deb-haalands-historic-nomination-as-interior-secretary-means-for-indigenous-peoples/). 
      Centuries following Europeans landing on our shores, Indigenous Americans were  considered to be "savages" solely because their language, customs and religious rites/rights were so different from those known in the "modern world."  Who can recall watching Western movies and a variety of television shoes where Indigenous Americans are virtually always portrayed as "bad" and/or violent? Without a common written language, Whites wrongfully assumed the Indigenous people were incapable of higher level thinking, let alone the ability to progress with modern "ideas."  This alone was why it was so easy to adopt positions that the "savages" were incomplete because they either didn't appreciate Jesus Christ or have a culture "rich enough" to be embraced and shared.  All the while various Tribes flourished for centuries in North America, long before European Whites showed up.  Much could have been learned from the Indigenous people, but a truly ignorant and stubbornly hateful society simply preferred to "assimilate" the tribes, or felt it was an easier path to simply annihilate them.  Hence, as North America was being "discovered", Indigenous Tribes were slowly being eliminated, all by design and all for their "own good."  As a result, pre-colonial "Anti-Indian" attitudes eventually became official American national policy.  From engaging in Biological warfare (from passing out Small-pox infected blankets to tribes under the guise of "protecting them") to actively flooding their Tribes with alcohol - knowing dependence would lead to control. *It was years later that scientists learned that Indigenous People lacked the ability to process alcohol like Europeans and alcohol addiction could be used as an effective control measure. 
        Once Americans began to institutionalize stealing their native lands, the Reservation System came into full bloom. Eventually, all policies to control Native Americans fell under the control of the U.S. Department of the Interior - whose main goal was to assimilate all Indigenous People or force them to face the harsh reality that the government was not going to provide for them - in any way.   I could turn this blog into a semester long curriculum, but you might find it best to read up on the history of American mistreatment of our Indigenous People at the hands of our government yourself.  A starting point might be to look up what was involved in the "Trail of Tears" that eventually led to the Dawes Act of 1887.  Although the one film that caught the attention of many Americans (yet was fiction) was "Dances with Wolves."  Another that illustrated the pure inhumanity of our own government towards our own Native Peoples is "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."   Any study of the formation of the America West will reveal our criminal policy of constant mistreatment of our Indigenous.  Even today, our government ignores the historical rights of our People through constant breach of treaties and understandings when it comes to Native holy lands in exchange for mineral rights and pathways for toxic pipelines - all the the detriment of our People.   
        Now you may want to ask yourself, why is a Jewish American claiming Indigenous People as our own?  Because any real American knows, they are ours - that's why.  I suggest you check out www.firstnations.org/knowledge-center/books/ to learn more.   Once you have a basic understanding from this reading, you will really appreciate how far reaching and important appointing the first person of First America heritage is to our Nation's history and why Deb Haaland's appointment is so profound and necessary. 
As many of us have been concerned about for decades, the failure of Americans to know and understand our history, dooms us to repeat it. It is no wonder 71 Million of us prefer an autocratic leader over one democratically  elected.  To Future Secretary Deb Haaland, I congratulate you.  It's about damn time!  Try to have a safe holiday.  Be well!

        One of the first things I would say to my incoming Advanced Placement American Government & Politics students was the negative impact American Democracy would suffer should anyone successfully cast doubt on the integrity of our national election systems and their outcomes.  I used this as a warning to indicate our democracy is always at some form of risk and in constant need of diligence to protect it from attacks, foreign and domestic.  I also would remind them that elections do have consequences.  I never thought though in 2020 a sitting president would be the one to attack our vaunted system solely so that he could swallow his loss like an adult.  I also never figured an entire political party would cast aside its patriotism in favor of a one-man circus, yet,  here we are. Unfortunately, when Russian dictator Nikita Khrushchev once warned that America would not be "taken down" from outside forces but from within, he certainly never imagined Donald Trump would be that agent.   Vlad Putin must be so proud. 
          It's a good thing I am no longer teaching these days, because I would surely be terminated for pointing out the rampant hypocrisy expressed from Trump and his GOP MAGA supporters.  Recent letters to the editor reveal how far they will go to support a failed president, all in lieu of the principles we were taught while growing up -that Democracy is a valuable asset that sets America apart from other countries.  Our "Exceptionalism" is not due to our overall wealth in the form of money, but our wealth of freedoms, ideas and values that tie and bind us all.  When a powerful bloc like the GOP ignores these values and a sitting president subjects them to his personal whims, then we can begin to sense that the United part of our nation is fractured.  Unfortunately, for politicians like Rubio, Scott, DeSantis, McConnell, Cruz and Graham, those values are mere fantasies compared to the real power they wield.  And that power is to dominate, not to empower the electorate.
       Another concept I floated to all of my students, was that politicians enjoy perpetuating an uneducated electorate.  That way, they could convince voters their underhanded efforts were actually "good" rather than the real wrongful manipulation cleverly designed to take advantage of their powers.  George Washington himself warned us about efforts like these.  He told us dangerous men with dangerous intent would try to deceive us instead of educate us.  And here we are in 2020.  The GOP endorses lies and corruption all in an effort to perpetuate power instead of democracy.
            Unlike any other time in my life, I now believe the law must be used to prosecute all those engaged in efforts to destroy our collective faith in our elections.  It's one thing to argue over a few thousand votes and claim the election was "too close", but it is certainly another matter when Joe Biden now has received over 81 Million votes, with margin over Trump in excess of Seven Million.  You read that right, Biden's vote tally is enormous.  Yet Trump and the GOP are still screaming about the 74 Million Trump voters being "disenfranchised" as if their votes are more important that the 81 Million that voted for Biden.  It comes as no surprise that they actually believe this considering most MAGA's tag lines on social media reveal themselves as "Patriots" while obviously considering "other Americans" as being less so.  
         So for the 80 million plus like me that voted for Biden, let those MAGA's know, We are also Americans.  If you don't like our democracy, then YOU might consider finding a better one.   Until then, hands off our democracy (and forget about your pretended "monopoly" on patriotism.)  As Alexis de Tocqueville once wrote, "The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults." Patriots protect our democracy, they don't use it for their personal gain. We have a lot to repair, but it can only start when the GOP and MAGA's realize Donald Trump was a mistake.  I can only hope the next four years will lead to a healing our nation.  Otherwise, I fear future elections will lead to our own demise.  And we will have no one but ourselves to blame for it.  Try to have a safe week!