whichwayup.org

01/24/07 07:15 PM: 582,000 Americans who have no voice in Congress

In 2002, I officially gave up my right to have representation in the United States Congress. That was the year that I registered to vote in the District of Columbia. I have since been an official resident of the District, and have paid both federal and “state” income taxes ever since. I voted in 2004 for President, but it should be noted that residents of the District of Columbia have only had that privilege since 1964. (Yes, you read that right, nineteen sixty-four).

Now I have heard a lot of reasons why I should not be allowed to vote for Congress. These range from the absurd (Washington, D.C. gets so much federal aid, you should be grateful and just be quiet) to somewhat more logical (2 Senators for one city would be goofy). However, I don’t put any stock into these excuses. That’s because these reasons fail to address the main problem, that American citizens who pay taxes have no voice in the Congress that ultimately creates those taxes, and also sends our members of the military to fight.

It’s been said that there’s no national outcry about this because no one outside of D.C. knows about it. There have been many publicity stunts trying to attract attention to the voting rights issue, from moving the District’s presidential primary, to stamping “Taxation Without Representation” on our license plates. So far, though, nothing has seemed to work. Nothing has galvanized the nation to take action. The situation was even officially declared a human rights violation by the Organization of American States. Yet, again, no one seems to care.

I’ll assume this blog post will not be the turning point either.

I’ve traveled across much of the United States, and most people are surprised that Washington, D.C. has it’s own driver’s licenses. I’m not sure why most people are surprised, I guess they assume that Washington, D.C. is actually part of Maryland or Virginia. I received quite a few strange looks driving around Washington state with my car from D.C. When I explain to people that yes, people live in Washington and that we can’t vote, most people are shocked.

Are you shocked? You may have even visited Washington, and seen the White House or the Capitol, and seen the monuments. I’ll bet you didn’t even think about the people actually living in the city. It’s okay, when I first visited D.C. I didn’t give much thought to it either.

Since our government has gotten in the habit of spreading democracy across the world, it’s a shame we can’t take care of the problem of the people who live in the “capital of the free world.”

There has been some talk about giving our “non-voting Delegate” a vote, provided we give Utah a second at-large representative. This is clearly ridiculous, as it turns this into a political issue rather than a voting rights issue. That’s like saying, let’s give the U.S. two votes on the U.N. Security Council to make up for China’s vote. Actually, that’s a bad analogy, but you get the point.

I’m just hoping that if you read this, you’ll be just a little shocked that there are so many people who don’t have the same rights the rest of America does, and maybe you’ll write your Congressman. Or your Senators.

I would, but, well, you know.

You can read more about D.C. Voting Rights at DC Vote and Wikipedia.