See that? It's a little of my idealism.. too bad I have no voting voice in the federal government.
It is wrong that DC doesn't have a voting member of Congress. I live in DC. A lot of young, idealistic, do-gooder types live in DC. A fair amount of rich white folks live in DC too. There are also a whole lot of poor black people who live in DC. None of us gets to elect people to represent us in our federal government. Politics aside--and boy, are there a lot of politics-- how can we say that over half a million Americans should be denied one of the most basic rights of living in this country?
Sure, there are arguments against it. Some scholars say it's not Constitutional. Some say it is. Mostly, I think, the vast majority of people in this country (those who already have the option, whether or not they choose to exercise it, to vote for someone to represent them) are unaware or don't care that there are people who are not allowed to even participate in this part of government. Maybe they learned about it in 4th grade social studies, but it doesn't affect their lives at all.
This has gotten very personal for me. Not only am I denied this right, but my students are. (Or, will be, when they turn 18). And let's face it, their government has already let these people down a whole lot. I don't know how anyone could come into my classroom, look at those little punks whose names I could recite but I won't, those 68 individuals who live in the United States of America, and tell them "No, we're not going to treat you like a full citizen of this country."
I have the resources to move to a place that will let me elect my representatives. Most of these kids don't.
As you can tell, I'm really bothered by this. It seems to me like a symbol of how forgotten the urban poor of this city are. Not only do their public schools absolutely suck and their opportunities limited, but because the Founding Fathers had originally planned for no one to live here, we're going to keep the rules as if no one lived here. Americans live here. Let's stop ignoring DC residents.
So I'm going to go to the Voting Rights March on Monday afternoon. If you live in the DC area, I strongly encourage you to take a little bit of time to stop by and demonstrate that somehow, this needs to be fixed.
DCist has a lot of reasons to march, an entreaty to take just an hour off of work to show your support, and coverage of this issue. So does the DCVote website.
Maybe we even deserve a Senate seat or 2 also. Nah. Then what'd we do with our "TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION" license plates?
Sure, there are arguments against it. Some scholars say it's not Constitutional. Some say it is. Mostly, I think, the vast majority of people in this country (those who already have the option, whether or not they choose to exercise it, to vote for someone to represent them) are unaware or don't care that there are people who are not allowed to even participate in this part of government. Maybe they learned about it in 4th grade social studies, but it doesn't affect their lives at all.
This has gotten very personal for me. Not only am I denied this right, but my students are. (Or, will be, when they turn 18). And let's face it, their government has already let these people down a whole lot. I don't know how anyone could come into my classroom, look at those little punks whose names I could recite but I won't, those 68 individuals who live in the United States of America, and tell them "No, we're not going to treat you like a full citizen of this country."
I have the resources to move to a place that will let me elect my representatives. Most of these kids don't.
As you can tell, I'm really bothered by this. It seems to me like a symbol of how forgotten the urban poor of this city are. Not only do their public schools absolutely suck and their opportunities limited, but because the Founding Fathers had originally planned for no one to live here, we're going to keep the rules as if no one lived here. Americans live here. Let's stop ignoring DC residents.
So I'm going to go to the Voting Rights March on Monday afternoon. If you live in the DC area, I strongly encourage you to take a little bit of time to stop by and demonstrate that somehow, this needs to be fixed.
DCist has a lot of reasons to march, an entreaty to take just an hour off of work to show your support, and coverage of this issue. So does the DCVote website.
Maybe we even deserve a Senate seat or 2 also. Nah. Then what'd we do with our "TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION" license plates?