putterings       612   <   613   >   614       index

 
Federal Enthusiasm for Reform
      Indian policy formulation and implementation seem always to be in a state of becoming, always on the threshold of something better, never quite in the groove. The formulation-implementation dynamic produces repeated fact-finding operations, a perpetual tinkering with laws and regulations, and a puttering with personnel policies, but only occasionally anything of fundamental importance.
[220]
      BIA’s Management Improvement Program and associated efforts stop short of fundamental reform...
      Two possibilities for dramatic reform exist. A resurgence of the backlash could drastically change the status quo for the worse. For this to happen, the Indians would have to do little more than what they have already been doing in the way of battling for their rights. Or, Indians could take steps to dramatically improve their leverage. There is still a chance for them to succeed at this, but they must take the initiative in exploiting it, for no one is simply going to hand power over to them.

 
from (concluding) Chapter 6, “On Indian Leverage,” in Robert L. Bee, The Politics of American Indian Policy (1982) : 219
borrowable at archive.org : link
 

20 May 2026