Survey of the DC Voting Rights Issue

"No taxation without representation!" was the fond rallying cry behind the Boston Tea Party back in 1773, a protest pointing towards the American declaration of independence from Britain. Unbelievably, the phenomenon of taxing citizens without giving them representation in government still happens to nearly 600,000 US citizens -- the residents of Washington, DC.

According to the 2005 census, the nation's capital is home to 582,049 people. That's nearly 75,000 more than the state of Wyoming (509,294) and just 40,000 less than Vermont (623,050). Wyoming and Vermont, however, each have two senators and a representative at large to speak on their behalf in the United States Congress.

Why should Americans care about DC's lack of congressional voting rights? As DCVote.org puts it, "The District of Columbia is the only jurisdiction in the United States where Americans fulfill all the responsibilities of citizenship but are denied equal rights as Americans living in other jurisdictions." All Americans should care when any American is denied their rights.

The status of DC voting rights makes involuntary hypocrites of the US when we demand rights for the citizens of the world. According to Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), a congressional delegation to Hong Kong was pressing leaders there to allow democracy. Davis said a senior Hong Kong official told him, "Give your nation's capital the right to vote and then come talk to us about democracy in Hong Kong."¹