As the timeline of my second vision draws to a close, I wouldn’t be surprised to find the final chapter waiting just around the corner – the “emergence of the police state” and all that entails. While restrictions on interstate travel have no modern precedent in American history, apart perhaps from those suspected of collaboration with the participants of “Wounded Knee” back in the 70’s, if that were to happen today the effect would have a much greater impact than many might realize. Practical considerations aside in the case of terrorism, America as a nation developed in context to open-space; room for everybody and the freedom to roam, wherever and whenever you liked. And while the nation’s pioneers would find the unexplored reaches of this vast country already occupied, the conundrum the Native peoples presented was more than consequence, as those cultures were linked to a spirit of self-sufficiency and independence; not unlike that of our Jeffersonian vision of agricultural development and independence from government interference. That ethos extended well back into the prehistory of North America itself, when the ancient civilizations of the New World had been part of a vast, interconnected trading empire, which stretched from Canada to Panama.
Yet, that ancient panorama, which was already in decline by the time the first European set foot in the Americas, was given new life with the arrival of the Spanish explorers and their horses. The opportunity presented was certainly not lost on the Indian tribes of The Great Plains, as it was the land itself and its open-spaces which had formed them. Knowing a good thing when they saw it, greater mobility provided by the horse was seen as providential. Accordingly, the wasted little time in taking advantage of Spanish negligence by forming their own remuda’s. Mounted warriors now and independent to a degree that few people in history have ever known, they embarked on a cycle of conquest, territorial expansion and mounted warfare. Yet, the colonial American pioneers which would follow were motivated by a much different driver, a seemingly insatiable greed, which, as a universal descriptive put them at odds with Native peoples whenever they met.
People came, from everywhere; first with their wagons, and later, with cars. Ancient tracks became established trails, which became railways and then roads. Consider then, if all the right-of-ways we’ve grown accustomed to were suddenly to become devoid of traffic; it wouldn’t take long for the weeds to sprout. And when speaking of noxious weeds, the phrase was often used to describe American Indians, as viable seed from an Indigenous past is illustrative of their viability. As having lain dormant for centuries, it wouldn’t take long for that seed to sprout once again, not only breaking through every crack in the pavement, but in the cultural dominance of the White Man. In time, another people would emerge, from the ground up, so to say; a people who would “…make the road by walking,” (Klein 2019). .
