The Lexington Movement \"Petition For Re-Dress Of Grievances\"
CONGRESS, ARE YOU LISTENING U n i t e d Pr o p e r t y O w n e r s \"P e t i t i o n f o r R e - D r e s s o f G r i e v a n c e s\" To Honorable President George W. Bush, Honorable Attorney General John Ashcroft, Honorable Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, Honorable Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Honorable Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, and every member of the United States Congress: We Respectfully request that you recognize that a national crisis exists in federal Indian policy. Please take immediate action by means of Executive Orders, agency regulations, administrative rule revision, and law enactment to fundamentally reform federal Indian policy and put an end to apartheid in America. Current federal Indian policies are driving Americans apart, rather then bringing people together for equality under the law. Stop eroding the tax base of our local communities! Please level the Free Enterprise playing field so that non-tribal businesses can compete, rather than being driven out-of-business and into bankruptcy. Please enforce the laws already on the books requiring tribes to collect and remit state and local sales and excise taxes. This is about simple fairness! Tribal monopolies should be outlawed like all other monopolies are in the United States. Tribes should not be allowed to use tribal government funds or casino business profits to make federal campaign donations, just as non-Indians cannot use any government or business funds to make campaign contributions. Stop using our federal taxpayer monies to sue innocent U.S. citizens, landowners, and local governments! Respect the sovereign rights of our state and local governments to manage and regulate the air, water, land, fish, and wildlife resources under their domain, as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. Say \"No\" to tribal demands to tax and regulate non-tribal citizens, private properties, and non-Indian businesses. Please enforce the numerous U.S. Supreme Court rulings that wisely limit tribal jurisdiction to their own members and tribal lands only. Because no American should be subject to the jurisdiction of a Non-Republic form of tribal government in which we have no voice or vote (as provided in Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution). Tribal sovereignty should not be used as a sword to harm the private property rights, community values, and civil liberties of their non-member neighbors. Mutual respect should instead be encouraged by the federal government between tribes and neighboring communities, rather than funding excessive, costly and divisive litigation by tribes. Fairer, more balanced federal Indian policy will serve to minimize a broad spectrum of existing multi-jurisdictional and intergovernmental conflicts in dozens of states across the country. Halt federal recognition of any new Indian tribes until the acknowledgement process is reformed to prevent further abuses. Give local citizens more voice in the federal decision-making process both for recognition and for moving lands from \"fee-to-trust\" for the benefit of tribes wishing to open tax-exempt gambling casinos. Indian tribes should be required to adequately mitigate the public health, safety, environmental, infrastructure, and property tax impacts of their development projects to protect the quality of life in our local communities. We urge you to immediately appoint and convene a Federal Indian Policy Reform Working Group to identify solutions so urgently needed to improve federal Indian policy for the benefit of Indians and non-Indians alike. The federal government can no longer ignore tribal recognition scams, taxpayer rip-offs, growing conflicts, and widespread Indian scandals as recently reported in TIME Magazine. Thank you. We The Undersigned:
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