Hawaii senator Daniel Akaka, a Democrat, is proposing legislation that would allow native Hawaiians to govern themselves in the same manner as American Indians

* Hawaii senator Daniel Akaka, a Democrat, is proposing legislation that would allow native Hawaiians to govern themselves in the same manner as American Indians. Akaka ran into a bit of trouble recently when he acknowledged to NPR one possible outcome of his bill: The natives could secede. We use the term "native" advisedly, because no one seems to know precisely what it means in this context, and in fact the new native interim government would set the definition.

Akaka has tried to avoid such details, noting only that areas of contention will be worked out by his great-grandchildren as the native government evolves, which is how he fell into the NPR gaffe in the first place. He later clarified his comments: He does not endorse secession. But the bill is a secession of sorts, and a congressionally mandated one at that: It would create an entity that is not bound by the Constitution, that conducts government-to-government relations with the United States, and that would decide how to organize and rule itself (which could even be by king or by caliphate). Akaka's bill is scheduled for a Senate cloture vote on September 6; it should be decisively rejected.

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