New Push for D.C. Voting Rights Begins in Unusual Way

[AirAmFan]

"Thursday January 27, 2005 3:50pm

Washington (AP) - D.C. residents fought for voting rights in Iraq, and an Iraqi-American is returning the favor. Andy Shallal calls it unfair that he can vote in Sunday's Iraqi elections, before D.C. veterans of the Iraq war will elect a voting representative in Congress. Shallal says he was moved to join the fight for voting rights when he heard about those veterans. Shallal and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton were on Capitol Hill where they thanked three of the vets. Norton and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman used the occasion to introduce a bill aimed at giving District residents full voting rights.

Lieberman... says bringing full democracy home is a difficult battle which makes many Republicans uncomfortable. Norton says the voting rights in their bill are available to the citizens of Iraq thanks to the service of D.C. residents and other Americans. Lieberman calls it unfair that congressional legislators fought for Iraqi citizens to elect their representatives, yet District residents can't elect a voting member to Congress.

If legislators don't see the light, he plans to turn up the political heat - possibly by attaching an amendment to the 1965 Voting Rights Act up for reauthorization this year. He says Republican strategy is to simply not allow a vote on voting rights. His amendment could force one."

(From http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0105/203126.html )

[bluestateguy]

1. Young people from DC will be subject to the draft

There are a lot of poor neighborhoods in DC where the kids will not have the ability to evade the draft. Yet they can be be marched off to fight in PNAC' next war.

[Langis]

2. The Republicans would let the Dems get another 2 Senators

This will never happen as long as they have the house and the senate.

[AirAmFan]

3. This is EXACTLY the kind of issue Democrats should push

to keep the issue of undemocratic elections alive. Publicity over missing voting rights in DC and elsewhere and discharge petitions to get DC voting out of committees would have high support among the general public. Even among Republicans, almost 80 percent support voting representation in Congress for DC residents (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33746-2005Jan24.html ). The vast majority of Americans are completely unaware of taxation without representation in DC.

What do Demorats have to LOSE by pushing this issue?

[BamaLefty]

4. Exactly

We would have two Senators in the bag. DC is the most Democratic area in America. They voted for Kerry nearly 90-10%.

[TahitiNut]

5. The population of DC is 20% larger than Wyoming's.

Since about 50% of the land in Wyoming is owned by the Federal government (i.e. us), let's just convert Wyoming to a Federal District and eliminate 2 Repugnant Senators and a Representative.

Alternatively, they could just choose which neighboring state they want to be combined with. :shrug:

They sure as hell don't rate 2 Senators and a Representative if DC doesn't.

[TheDonkey]

6. Here, Here.

It's a disgust that those residents in DC our capital are 2nd class citizens in the nation.

[Orangepeel]

7. Good for Lieberman!

credit where credit is due.

[AirAmFan]

12. Maybe this will keep him occupied with something constructive for a change

[AirAmFan]

8. One of *'s very first announcements was that 'Taxation w/o Representation'

Representation' DC license plates would be removed from White House limos. He didn't even wait until Inauguration night was over, four years ago:

'PRESIDENT BUSH REMOVES "TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION" PLATES FROM LIMOUSINE

While our nation was hearing a valedictory address from our outgoing President, and the celebratory fireworks were soaring over the Lincoln Memorial for the incoming President, the 570,000 residents of the District of Columbia learned that we were not invited to the party. That night President Bush announced that he would replace the standard Washington, D.C., license plates, which bear the statement of fact "Taxation Without Representation," with blank District plates on the presidential limousine. The plates were put there by former President Clinton...'

(From http://www.dcvote.org/library/newsletter.cfm?issue=jan01 )

[BayCityProgressive]

9. if Lieberman

places this on the Voting Rights Act is there any chance of it passing?

[AirAmFan]

10. IMO, with enough media attention to a broad enough coalition behind it,

there's a chance of victory in Congress, though whether the USSC would let it stand is another matter.

Certainly the Republicans would whip Republican votes against voting rights for DC, and some Democrats (especially in DC suburbs/exurbs in MD, VA, and WV) would vote with Rethugs. But strong MoveOn-type advertising campaigns and substantial mobilization of pro-democracy coalitions might make it hard for a pure party-line result to go down in silence.

Even in defeat there would be the victory of exposing White House and Republican hypocrisy over a "freedom" that excludes hundreds of thousand of African-Americans Opening millions of Americans' eyes to this hypocrisy would make it easier to continue exposing the subtler ways Republicans have disfranchised minorities to "win" in Ohio, Florida, and throughout the South.

[BayCityProgressive]

11. Two extra senators

would make a world of difference.

[AirAmFan]

13. Especially when they're very likely to be members of the CBC