Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Give DC Residents a Vote in Congress
One has to love the Republican batwing faction who finds the bill making its way to the president's desk giving District of Columbia residents a seat in the halls of Congress objectionable because according to them, gasp, it is unconstitutional.
You see, the founding fathers made no provision for the voting rights of residents in the "federal government district" inserted in the Constitution, as the Washington Post notes in a recent article.
When Congress assumed total control of the District through legislation outside of the constitution and Bill or Rights, it seems to Howling Latina that the future of the nation's capital was left solely in the hands of Congress.
Equal to Congress taking away residents rights to vote, the 210th Congress can certainly right this grave injustice by giving them back representation.
As Congress taketh away, Congress can giveth; and it's the representative and democratic thing to do.
You see, the founding fathers made no provision for the voting rights of residents in the "federal government district" inserted in the Constitution, as the Washington Post notes in a recent article.
The main argument advanced by the bill's opponents is that the Constitution reserves House membership for representatives from states. And the District is not a state, they note.And yet...District residents voted in their old districts that had been ceded by Virginia and Maryland to the U.S. government to form a new government district until 1801 when Congress passed the Organic Act that cavalierly took away their rights.
When Congress assumed total control of the District through legislation outside of the constitution and Bill or Rights, it seems to Howling Latina that the future of the nation's capital was left solely in the hands of Congress.
Equal to Congress taking away residents rights to vote, the 210th Congress can certainly right this grave injustice by giving them back representation.
As Congress taketh away, Congress can giveth; and it's the representative and democratic thing to do.
// posted by Howling Latina @ 9:10 AM 
