Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="rickyb" data-source="post: 5134227" data-attributes="member: 56035">the gungans will determine your fate now[URL unfurl="true"]https://nader.org/2019/09/19/statement-of-ralph-nader-on-statehood-for-the-district-of-columbia/[/URL]"It is important for Democrats and Republicans to give voice to people whose voice is not heard inside the corridors of power.  More than 600,000 of those people live in the District of Columbia.  As the capital of this nation, the District is the symbol of the freedoms for which this nation stands. The light of democracy shines from the District, but does not illuminate this city.  The core is hollow.  The values of equality and political participation that the city promises are denied right here, in our nation’s Capital.Most Americans do not know, and many would find it hard to believe, that under our current system DC residents are second-class citizens.  The District is denied local control – Congress must approve the District’s budget, and can override any action of the city government.  At the same time, District residents do not have even one voting representative in the Congress which controls them.  DC is effectively a colony, with all local decisions directly subject to change by a Congress largely out of touch with local realities.Here is an important issue, involving the democratic rights of over half a million people, and yet there has been no debate whatsoever, and most Americans are unaware of the issues involved.  Statehood for the DC is a perfect issue for the Democratic Presidential Primary debates.  All the Democratic Primary candidates for president should pledge to make District residents first-class citizens of the United States, or explain why they think District residents should continue to be denied rights that other Americans take for granted.Most people who live outside of the District do not know that DC citizens pay more than $2 billion a year in federal income taxes – more than several states – yet cannot elect people to decide how their money is spent.  DC residents have served and died in our armed services over the last half century in disproportionately high numbers, but have no representation in the Congress that decides whether or not to go to war.  The U.S. is the only democracy in the world that deprives the residents of its capital city the basic rights granted to other citizens.Even more damaging than the lack of Congressional representation is the colonial-style control that Congress exerts over the District.  Adding one, or three, DC representatives to the 535 members of Congress would, by itself, do little to solve this problem."</blockquote>

Verification