Hey David,

Regarding MM 1(16):

I wonder if you are aware of the continuing standoff on the Yakima Indian Reservation in Washington State. It seems the tribal council has enacted stiff taxes on all forms of alcohol that is sold on the reservation. This tax is hitting the bar and liquor store owners the hardest, who, incidentally, are mostly white and therefore are not tribal members and do not elect tribal council members. The proceeds of the tax are intended to be used to combat the high costs of alcoholism, which is rampant in the area. I am not sure if the programs which will be funded by the tax will be accessible by alcoholic whites as well as alcoholic Indians. It's a complex legal-ethical-social showdown that is unfolding right now (tavern owners are outright refusing to pay the tax). What is pertinent to what you are writing about the Hawaiian issue is that this new law is affecting all of the legal citizens of the Yakima Reservation, not just the ones that are legally allowed to vote on the tribal council. All the good intentions of the law don't change the fact that it is taxation without representation.

Scott