The more I look at what happened with the Republican filibuster of the DC voting rights bill, the angrier I get. And not just at the Wish-I-Were-in-Dixie GOP that prefers to preserve the Old Plantation. It’s at the utter lack of interest in the issue by anyone who lives more than 20 miles from DC. And they’re the only people than can do a thing about it. That’s the very core of the issue.
Short of violent revolution, DC residents do not have ultimate control over those that govern them. Sure, there’s the DC City Council, but that exists at the pleasure of Congress (who has a long history of micromanagement and meddling in DC’s issues anyway, over the objection of the Council). And yet no one really seems all that concerned about it. What little conversation you do find about it on liberal discussion sites seems to boil down to a few desperate voices from DC which are overwhelmed by variations on the following:
- Oh well, it was unconstitutional anyway.
- If you don’t like it, move someplace else.
- DC shouldn’t have as much power as [my state].
- DC is represented by all 100 Senators and 435 Representatives.
The first can be almost always be ascribed to ignorance and laziness. The rest are ridiculous on their face. But what really really gets me is the underlying theme: that DC doesn’t deserve representation. And my response to that? Best left unprinted, I think.
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Correction to my piece yesterday – Democrats were *not* unanimous in their support of the bill. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) voted against it, reportedly citing worries about it resulting in less influence for Montana. It’s been reported that he said he would have voted for it, if it would have been the deciding vote. So much for principles. Also, on today’s Kojo Nnamdi show, a number of political reporters claimed that Sens. Thad Cochran (R-MS), John McCain (R-AZ) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) had each indicated that they were planning to support the bill earlier in the week (this would have gotten the bill the 60 votes it need to overcome the Republican filibuster).  Apparently they “came under intense lobbying pressure.”  From who, the RNC?
John
DC citizens do have one item that has never been utilized and I wonder what would happen if it occurred.
I am speaking of federal juries in DC. What would the reaction on the Hill be if DC citizens either refused to indicte people charged on federal law or if sitting on juries refused to find someone guilty since we did not have a say in the law’s passage??