Here's a comment I tried to post early Friday on Milldam's essay.  Nothing wrong with it.  But blocked.

Indeed, "When It Comes To Native Hawaiian Affairs, Authoritarianism Is In Vogue."  The explanation is simple.  The powerful, wealthy race-based institutions want to create an Indian tribe.  And Indian tribes are notoriously authoritarian.  The chiefs rule the Indians.  Any Indian who doesn't like the way the chiefs treat him has no recourse to the courts (except the tribal court), because tribes have sovereignty.  If you make too much noise the chiefs will disenroll you.  OHA sometimes comes right out publicly and says OHA is not a state government agency -- it cannot be held accountable to procurement regulations or open-meeting laws, especially when spending "trust" money instead of tax dollars.  So they say.  They're wrong, but you need megabucks to take them to court.