An advance unedited version of the annual UN Human Rights Committee evaluation of the United States, issued July 28, 2006, criticizes the U.S.for voting rights practices. Point 35 begins, “The Committee is concerned that about 5,000,000 adult citizens cannot vote due to a felony conviction”. Point 36 begins, “The Committee remains concerned that residents of the District of Columbia do not enjoy full representation in Congress, a restriction which does not seem to be compatible with article 25 of the Covenant.”
Well, heck, LOTS of us don’t have any representation!
The rest of us, though, don’t live in a place specifically set aside NOT to have representation.
That is, we did not choose to live in D.C., where the non-politician residents do not have representation and where the alleged representatives do not represent me and millions of others, who nevertheless pay their salaries and bear the other burdens of the laws they pass.
Many of us are not represented, in part, because the would-be candidates who would represent us are not allowed on any ballot, not allowed to run for an office in which they could represent us.
How about that for a human rights violation?