UPDATE: It looks like the rally went off well, despite the abnormal weather. It was the largest rally for DC voting rights. The people are speaking, Congress. Will you listen? Or like King George III will you turn a dear imperious ear?An important event this Monday in DC:
The Rally in support of legislation giving DC citizens a VOTING representative in the US Congress will begin at Freedom Plaza (14th & Penn. Ave. ) at 2:30 pm THIS MONDAY. We will march down Penn to the Capitol Reflecting Pool for a rally with speakers beginning at 4 p.m. Without an actual vote in Congress, ALL of the rights gays now enjoy in DC are in jeopardy, as illustrated by the attempt of some in Congress to tell us what gun legislation we should have.
In case you don't know, the people of DC pay taxes but have no voting rights in Congress. Yet Congress can dictate the laws for DC, even overturn legislation enacted by our popularly elected city council and mayor.
I have yet to hear a rational argument against DC statehood. John at Average Gay Joe (who supports DC voting rights but not statehood) fears making DC a state would give it undue influence over the federal government:
The States do still have enough power that one lucky enough to host the Federal City would have undue influence that the others would not..
But how? Has proximity to DC given Virginia and Maryland undue influence over federal largess? West Virginia, which shares no borders with DC is one of the states that gets the most pork. And distance seemed no barrier to Alaska getting $223 million for its "Bridge to Nowhere."
The proximity argument may have made sense in the late 1700s when great distances and lack of instant communication may have given states with proximity to the national capital a leg up. But we have airplanes now. And email. And cell phones. And video conferencing.
Yesterday I wrote a check made out to the U.S. Treasury to pay my taxes. As a self-employed person, it was a huge chunk. I not only have no say in how that money is spent but people elected by other people who don't live here, some of whom in fact live as much as 7,000 miles away, can dictate laws under which I have to live.
It's wrong. Americans are dying to bring a little democracy in a place called Iraq. We could use a bit more of it in a place called America.
If you support DC statehood, or even just DC voting rights, and you don't live in DC, contact your Congressperson. Let them know.
More on the effort here.
1 comment:
I should add that the bill before Congress would not make DC a state, rather it would give DC's Delegate to Congress (a Democrat) voting rights while adding a Congressional district in Utah, likely to be a Republican.
Some argue that this is unconstitutional, since only a "state" can have a vote in Congress according to the Const.
That's why I ultimately think DC should become a state (or revert back to Maryland).
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