If I told you that half of Benewah County is under a Communist government, would that bother you? Would it bother you that these Communists want to enslave the rest of Benewah County, the part you live in?
The acid test of a free society is whether you truly own your land. Land ownership is a unique kind of personal sovereignty and autonomy. Communist societies, like China, have a “restricted” ownership; it is a matter of permission rather than one of right.
In the American system, you cannot be deprived of your property without “due process of law.” What that means is that you can do as you please on your land as long as you do not harm someone else. Even then, the law protects your heirs. The seizure of estates was a medieval practice, as it is also that of Communists: Communism is merely tyranny of a different stripe.
The legal terminology which is used on your land title that proves you have unrestricted ownership is “fee simple.” It means that you are not a vassal to an overlord. Your land is your own.
Members of the Coeur d’ Alene Indian Tribe are not so lucky. Most of them have a “restricted fee” or a limited title. The house they live in or the land they live on reverts to the Tribe upon their death. There are no heirs. If their spouses are so unlucky as to not be a member of the Tribe, too bad: “Out the door you go!”
Sure, Tribal members can go outside of the system and as state citizens buy land “fee simple,” but if that land lies within the boundaries of the Reservation, the new Water Adjudication Agreement has taken away that option, as well. The noose tightens.
This is communism and it is remarkable that our local and state officials are so completely philosophically unaware that they cannot see it.
“If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” – Jesus
Go to this YouTube video to learn more about owner options on the Reservation. Just keep this in mind that the Water Adjudication Agreement is about to go into effect and will overturn much of what is presented in this video.
https://share.google/HT95u0sZOWMjxJCLj
Go to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to learn more about the property “rights” of Indians on the Reservation. Or do an AI search under “Do Indians own their own land on the reservation?” There are basically three:
- Tribal Trust Land which is land owned by the tribe as a collective entity
- Allotted Trust (or Restricted) Land which is land “owned” by individual tribal members but with a restricted status, and
- Fee Simple Land which is land purchased from state citizens by a tribal member which happens to be located within Reservation boundaries and is held in “fee simple”; although an enrolled tribal member might have an antecedent conventional (or contractual) obligation which prohibits him from selling it back to a non-tribal person.
JWS, 5/16/26
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