The Birth of Merging Streams and the Pine Ridge Reservation
The Merging Streams Project is both a doorway and a map into
another dimension and application of the restoration principle. Free
enterprise and capitalism, the economic forces which rewarded
initiative, innovation, and hard work, were set loose in America like
nowhere else in the world. Once embraced by the American people, these
principles enabled the United States to become an economic powerhouse.
However, great opportunity without faith and strong moral principles
will cause many to fall prey to selfishness and greed, which were the
reasons so much was taken from Native Americans long ago. The
Reservation system was the structure created to contain Native Americans
and set them apart from the rest of the United States. Over the last 250
years, most Native Americans have only looked at prosperity all around
them, but because of the Reservation structure, they have not been able
to participate to the same degree or benefit as much as all those around
them. The Reservation Option would literally turn the tables and
reverse these positions. It would create the same opportunity that
citizens in the U.S. had in the 1860s, before all the government
regulation, taxation, and bureaucratic quagmire made it so costly and
difficult to do business in America. It will also allow any product
that has merit, regardless of how it would affect established U.S.
industries, special interest groups, or any other interest, to be
produced on the reservation without any pushback or encumbrance. It
would be unbridled, unhindered, free enterprise and capitalism the way
it used to be in the United States. When undergirded with solid
foundations of morality and sacrifice, the First Nations can truly
become a new America of hope, stability and prosperity. These are the
forces that made America the greatest economic powerhouse the world had
ever seen. The careful, yet powerful blend of the best of two cultures
is the very essence of Merging Streams Commonwealth.
Building manufacturing facilities and producing products on Pine
Ridge and other Native American reservations would put us in the unique
position of manufacturing capabilities within the United States’
borders, but not be under the jurisdiction, control, regulatory power,
or law of the U.S. This is because each reservation is considered a
sovereign nation which decides and exercises its own authority,
controls, and laws, as would any other nation in the world today.
Manufacturing is the key to economic independence and a vibrant middle
class, and Merging Streams Commonwealth will be no exception.
On July 2, 2009, the Oglala Sioux Tribal (OST) Council unanimously
approved a Resolution between Issachar LLC and Issachar Management Group
of Pine Ridge which provided a 50-acre industrial park to serve as their
capital contribution to the project. If Reservation land is sold, it
loses its sovereignty status. In order to retain that status, Issachar
Management Group and manufacturers will not own the land but they will
not pay a lease either. However, the value of the land at time which
the manufacturing facility begins production will serve as the amount of
their contribution and will determine the percentage of profit that
would go to the Oglala Sioux Nation. Issachar LLC and Issachar
Management Group will facilitate bringing three to four manufacturing
facilities, their supply feeders, and retail establishments to support
those facilities, to Pine Ridge. Each manufacturing and related
business which operates under this Resolution will be an authorized
corporation under the authority of the Oglala Sioux Nation. They will
not be governed, regulated, or under the jurisdiction of the United
States, so that no large corporate or special interest group can
influence, hinder, or affect in any way the development, manufacturing
or sale of these Native American industries and products .
The OST Council, Issachar LLC, and Issachar Management Group will
work together to provide the residents of Pine Ridge an opportunity for
gainful employment and job training in order to make their reservation a
good place to live, work, and raise their families; as well as to
preserve their culture and traditions. This idea sprung from initial
talks with Christian ministries preparing to build a Rehab and training
center on the reservation to combat the alcohol and drug addictions
which have hurt and hindered their community. Manufacturing facilities
and basic job training will create a viable and tangible hope where
presently there is none. This effort will provide a way the Christian
Church in America, through market place ministry, can bless Native
Americans and begin to overcome some of the inequities and oppression
they have experienced.
This effort will be comprised of two structures. The first,
Merging Streams Commonwealth, is a non-profit 501(c) (3) focusing on
infrastructure improvements, life skills and job training, as well as
the development of a state of the art research & development and
innovation center. This R&D and innovation center would develop
alternative energy products and other new technologies unaffected by
large corporations and their culture-driven agendas, and their
campaign-funded legislatures. The innovation center would unleash the
forces of unadulterated free enterprise and the creative and inventive
genius of people to find solutions to housing, energy shortages,
responsible environmental stewardship, as well as other problems,
without politics or outside influence.
Businesses operating in Pine Ridge will have more freedom, more
flexibility, lower costs, and a greater competitive edge than has been
available in over 50 years in the United States. Reservation taxation
systems are already much lower and less complicated than those of many
other nations. These companies would be operating in an atmosphere of
innovation and potential not seen in the United States for a generation,
but enjoyed in other parts of the world today, which is one of the big
reasons why the U.S. is losing market share in numerous industries
globally.
Products and systems which would never see the light of day in the
U.S. without upsetting powerful corporate agenda, priorities, and
interests, can be developed and produced in Pine Ridge. Common sense
and wise economic policy will once again have a chance to reign.
Opportunities such as these are rare in the world today, even in
developing countries. All initiatives and programs on the reservation
are spared the distance and time disadvantages in the Third World
because the Commonwealth of First Nations is squarely inside U.S.
borders. Resources, manpower and expertise are ready for dispatch to
make this a reality.
I have been asked to go to other reservations to present this as
well. A huge opportunity awaits the housing and energy industries which
are desperate for breakthroughs. I believe it is a doorway to many
other doorways and is only the beginning of what God would like to
release to Native Americans, as well as the rest of the world.
Join us in this market place mission of lasting importance.