in pride in children". As well, other Native women have chosen to decrease the size of their families. The grandmothers would choose a path of natural fertility and give birth until they no longer could. In the present day, most mothers decided to limit their families to three to four children. "No longer sources of labor, the children become investments during long years of growth and education." Political opportunities have not completely limited the impacts of Native American women. Mae Chee Castillo (Navajo) has made tremendous strides for socioeconomic equality during the 1980s. Mae Chee Castillo is considered a Navajo heroine amongst many honorable tribal sentiments. These sentiments also include grandmother, community steward, and cultural preservationist (storyteller). Mae Chee Castillo is revered as a political activist for publicly "lecturing" and requesting presidential actions to sustain economic policies within Native American societies. Her demonstrations have set a political precedence for Native American women. Self-government "The Iroquois and the Cherokees did not value the process of a democratic republic because it consumed their identity; they valued it because it protected their individuality. The political debate from the Cherokee town council to the Iroquois Grand Council limited by law what the group could do to the person." The Natives place a high importance on individuality in government and thus, the issues dividing them will be resolved using a democratic-like resolution. Through the self-determination policy proposed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968, tribal governments have the right to control federal programs directed at the Native Americans. Instead of supervising the tribes, the Bureau of Indian Affairs "began to serve". Congress then passed legislation recognizing the tribal judicial system and the decisions made through it. Groups such as the American Indian Movement (AIM) support this movement because it allows them to act independent of the United States government while still securing their voting rights. See also Contemporary Native American issues in the United States Cultural assimilation of Native Americans Indian termination policy Methamphetamine and Native Americans Modern social statistics of Native Americans Native American boarding schools Native American disease and epidemics Native American identity in the United States Native American self-determination Native Americans and reservation inequality Outline of United States federal Indian law and policy Reservation poverty Tribal disenrollment Tribal sovereignty References External links https://www.aiim-conference.com/ Native American topics American Indian reservations Politics of the United States