It takes time for new ideas to circulate among the numunuh (the people) and to become established concepts. In spite of a severe penchant for tradition, Comanche people have always been trendy, riding the wind, always curious about new things. It may take three to five years for some of my ideas to be understood and valued. It may take only a few months for other ideas. The point of my campaign is to make new ideas a part of the people. In this way, they will eventually become the law of the tribe. I doubt that I myself will arbitrate or administer, in a governing position, but, when the people are truly determined to have something, they will demand it of whomever is in office. Therefore, it behooves me to get the ideas circulating among the people now, so that Wallace Coffey–no doubt our next chairman, will consider them!

Here are more of my ideas:

The Comanche Nation College, unaccredited after a decade, devouring nearly $2 million a year of the nation’s budget, must be changed into a technical institution, or a trade school. Most Comanches simply cannot afford college. Their lives are not amenable to four years of academic life. A trade school, where a young person can learn a skill, get a license, and begin work in the real world, is what the nation needs. Accreditation for a trade school is much easier to attain, and a technical school would attract many more students, and they would succeed in obtaining their desired qualification.

The Comanche Nation is in dire need of a tribal court–one which operates for all our people, regarding all aspects of our constitution (whatever constitution we end up having), and addresses all ages, from children to the elderly. We need professional judges, attorneys, and clerks. For the money we spend on some of our other programs, it is a public shame that we do not have our own court system.

There are programs in our budget that need to be eliminated as they stand. Chief among these are: Comanche Nation Enterprises ($1 million); Capital Improvement($1,866,606); Economic Development ($700,000); Comanche Nation College ($1,850,000). Other major budget items that need serious reconsideration are: Legal Fees ($500,000); Land Acquisitions ($1,800,000); and numerous smaller items which might be managed under different departments.

I would establish a Comanche Nation Bank. We should have our own currency. This would enable us to keep track of our casino earnings, our tribal business, and to plan our budget more accurately.

At present, we scarcely possess one element of the definition of a sovereign nation. The most basic aspects are absent from our tribe

At this time, the average Comanche does not understand our budget. We have no idea who decides who gets what money, and we are suspicious of everyone whom we think does get money from the tribe. Communication is nearly absent, or profoundly inadequate. Dishonesty and incompetence are often meshed, and the result is gross inefficiency and wasteful bureaucracy. This is unnecessary, and must end.

My goal is to put cash into the hands of the people, individual Comanches, all. I want to see our resources shared equally, as equally as possible. I will reorganized our tribal structure so that there will be no “Comanche jobs.” This arrangement puts great heaps of cash into the hands of very few Comanches. These precious tribal jobs cause nothing but envy, strife, discontent, and resentment among those who don’t hold such positions. Either we enjoy these negative emotions, or else we must be willing to make serious, dramatic changes. Either we prefer complaining, as some vague and shameful imitation of warriorhood, or else we must become real warriors again, and be willing to risk all.

Of course, most of my ideas would be easily implemented if we had a business model for a constitution, instead of the tired, inadequate, and crippling BIA constitution we presently have–imposed on us in 1934. But, in truth, Comanches, like many Indians, are afraid to break away from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, afraid to do something radical, daring, and brave. We’re very timid when it comes to governmental change. Part of this is the penchant for tradition, as mentioned before, but a great part of it is also fear of losing what we have.

As I see it, we’re losing what we have now! Every day. It will take a bold, dashing bit of political soldiery to stay the tide of our national and ethnic erosion. Perhaps many Comanches don’t see it, but we’re slowly bleeding to death as it is! Those who can see the future know that something mighty, something of terrible import, must transpire soon, else we will never be able to turn things around.

Sounds like I’m talking about the United States, doesn’t it. I’m talking about the Comanche Nation. The difference? The United States has a national constitution that the founding fathers created. The Comanches have a flim-flam piece of political invention hoisted upon us by Washington, D.C. bureaucrats, designed to hough our heels and subject us into ethnic, national oblivion. Our Comanche constitution is not ours, not designed for our people, temperament, or our genetic coding. It eliminates our ethos.

Comanches are different. True, we’ve lost a lot of our initiative to be ourselves, as have most American Indians. Assimilation has weakened our spirits enormously. Yet, this is the world we live in. This is our present battlefield.

A warrior of the people doesn’t get to pick his battlefield, or the times in which he makes war, or even the manner in which he must make it. All he can do is respond to the times and the situations.

The Indians nations in America right now are becoming the vortex of all the national issues of the country. Health care, gambling, and even law. The United States government bows to that pestilential foreign influence called Islam. We accommodate more Sharia law every day. Does the United States honor Indian tradition in the same way? Are Indian ways protected?

Do Indians attempt to impose our ways on everyone else, like Muslims? We like our tax-free businesses. Are foreign Muslims on a par with the American Indian? Is their foreign, imported colonist religion to be equated with American Indian nationhood?

This is the kind of outrage that should cause every Indian to go on the warpath. We are insulted, denigrated, and dismissed every day, worse and worse. The integrity of the United States of America actually depends our Indian nations, what we do, what we think, and what we prophesy. A great weight is upon us all. To preserve ourselves is to preserve America. If we don’t preserve ourselves, America is lost, and we lose our highest honors.

We owe it to America to save ourselves.

Vote Yeagley for Comanche Nation Chairman, 2012
Bad Eagle Foundation
P.O.Box 75017
Oklahoma City, OK 73147