At last count there were 564 native American Indian tribes recognized as indpendant nations by the US government. The challenge has been, in the face of an overwhelming foreign culture and numbers of immigrants, to hold onto enough of the various native cultures to maintain their separate identities.
Even as the dominant culture has whittled away at the edges of cultural separation, the tribes remain no more united now than they were during the colonial period and manifest destiny. I don't think it's so much a desire to go back in time as it is a desire to maintain the identity and separate cohesion of abtigiis and tolka. It is a primitive notion, but it was the only thing that worked for thousands of years.
Intermarriage and steady movement off the reservations is blurring tribal lines and changing expectations. Many current leaders went away to school, particpated in the dominant culture, and now operate within the Department of the Interior or the Bureau of Indian Afairs. The Native American Health Center here in Oakland (funded by the BIA and part of national public health) has been under Native control for all of the 32 years I have worked for them.
Michael, keep in mind: I have half-Cherokee cousins, and you are part Miq-Mak....... A degree of nostalgia is healthy, but there is no going back......