@Ubiq:
Side effect of the odd system where you have theoretically sovereign nations existing within another sovereign nation. Tribal sovereignty only extends as far as Congress allows it though; generally speaking though, reservations are subject only to federal and not state/local statutes.
So, if the reservations already primarily subject to the federal law system, perhaps their status could be further developed to resemble - well, not a state of the union, but a more autonomous territory of some intermediate stage?
@Ubiq:
Even then, there's still some grey areas; a Supreme Court decision from as recently as 1978 means that reservation law enforcement officials could not arrest non-residents of crimes committed within a reservation without the consent of local police.
So you could walk into a convenience store on a reservation and shoplift, but could not be arrested for it if the county government objects. I'm not sure if that's been fixed or not.
Sometimes your judicial system seems like the very tip of the spear that protects modern human rights. But some other times it looks like that spear fires missiles backwards at its owner.
@Ubiq:
The Cherokee and Creek had a very long, very combative history with each other with the Cherokee forcing the Creek out of their traditional grounds in Tennessee further south and all but eliminating the Upper Creek tribe during the Creek War/War of 1812. The Choctaw and Chickasaw also had a lengthy feud going back centuries.
So expecting a lot of cooperation out of people whose grandfathers and fathers were killing each other is a bit of a stretch.
Looking at the map, I see that only the Seminole have lived much further to the south from these two groups and probably didn't have a common history.
But, 2 centuries after these conflicts, 2 centuries of common fate and 1,5 century of life side by side perhaps have calmed down the tensions?
Sadly, I am just as ignorant of these matters as much I am interested in them.
@Ubiq:
There's not a single state that could survive being cut off from Federal funding without basically plunging into Third World status.
What about Texas?
@dirt:
Forget Oregon and Washington.
Don't they jam to the ukelele at Seattle.