Living the Hawaiian dream?

I read with amazement Monica Hatori’s thinly veiled A Call to Arms, Stand With Your Alii, which, among other things, advocates that the United States Supreme Court return the Kingdom of Hawaii to Hawaiians.

As yet another in a growing list of Hawaiian sovereignty groups, the so-called living heirs of Hawaii’s Alii, the Kamehameha’s, seek to rule Hawaiians, and presumably, all of Hawaii. Hatori’s Call to Arms advocates that the Hawaiian Constitution of 1864 be re-established.

What I have neither seen asked, nor answered, is any of a lengthy list of easily gathered questions and considerations about the various movements underway, and their potential impact upon those living in Hawaii. For example, how would sovereignty take place? Would citizens of whichever sovereign group eventually rules Hawaiians also be subject to the laws of the State of Hawaii and the United States of America? If so, then what’s the point of sovereignty? Or, if not, would sovereign Hawaiians be subject only to their own laws. And who decides what those laws would be? Questions are easy. Answers are more difficult.

Of even more interest to local residents throughout Hawaii would be the answer to another straightforward question. Do the various sovereignty groups advocate the overthrow of the State of Hawaii, and Hawaii as part of the United States? If so, will they pay reparations for the value of land, homes, businesses, and condominiums taken during the re-overthrow of Hawaii? Some would argue that such reparations to current residents would be fair and just since the increase in property values only occurred between the Kingdom of 1864 and the new Kingdom of 2000-whatever.

If the Hawaiian Constitution is re-established, over whom will it govern? What of Hawaiians who do not wish to engage in the various sovereignty movements, or who do not wish to be subjects of a newly established Kingdom of Hawaii? Would they be forced into servitude anyway, or be given sufficient time to leave Hawaii for Las Vegas?

I sympathize with anyone whose family has lost freedom and property through any unjust or illegal means. I’m certain, too, that somewhere, someplace in my family’s much longer history, which dates back through the centuries to Scotland, France, England, the Netherlands, or Germany, that someone I’m related to lost freedom or property through unjust means.

Do I have the right, or the obligation to my family, to go back and reclaim from the past property that has been lost for generations, yet, some would argue, which remains rightfully mine (obviously shared by me and my relatives, though I claim ownership and the right to rule such property, should it ever be retained)?

I see only a can of worms being opened by such a scenario. Yet, assume for a moment that I’m able to travel back to what once was a large family property in Edinburgh, Scotland; valuable property that was taken unjustly and illegally by whomever ruled England at the time, and prove that the property belonged to me (acting on behalf of my family through the generations).

Now what?

Will the current owners of my reclaimed family property in Scotland, which was illegally overthrown and taken from my family centuries ago, simply hand over the property to me? Would I then be free to return there to live and declare my independence and sovereignty over that property, separate and distinct from the laws which govern modern Scotland? Or, barring reparations of property, would I simply be able to return to modern Scotland, declare my sovereignty over myself and get the fair minded and independent Scots to pay me to remain sovereign?

Perhaps. After all, dreams do come true. In the meantime, between the reality of the here and now, and the romanticized life of where my thoughts and desires can take me, and well before any of my aforementioned dream comes true, I see many very real nightmares.