On February 10, Senator Hillary Clinton told an audience in Washington, D.C., that she supports full voting rights for D.C. voters. The United States is the world’s only nation with free elections that deprives residents of its capital city full representation in national legislative bodies.
More proof yet, that our true identity, since the Honolulu corporate /military take over of 1886, is that of global empire. We are not that much better than the French, German, Brits, ______________ Imperial Empire of yore!
Limited rights of denizens of what SHOULD be the County of Washington of the State of Maryland? Add Guam, the Mariannas, American Samoa, various other Pacific Islands, Gitmo, PR, United States Virgin Island, and various other imperial pocessions. Fake Money, non Metric System, non parliament, and imperial empire trappings, including a half trillion [TRILLION!] dollar military adventure in the Arabian Gulf —-boy a lot of our problems seem to be self made!
Billary the emancipator? From a Peace Candidate whom funds invasion! What next? Sex for chastity?
Still haven’t heard a word from any candidate on Puerto Rico.
Off hand, I don’t recall which years it occurred but
in the past 10 years both Puerto Rico & Guam have held
votes for Statehood and they didn’t vote yes. Now as
far as the other territories go apparently they aren’t
even ready yet to consider statehood. Until they vote
for statehood they don’t deserve any additional voting
rights. Remember, they all have delegates in the House
who can vote in committee, just not on the House floor.
The people in the overseas territories are U.S. citizens (except people in American Samoa are just U.S. nationals). The other nations that have overseas territories, except Britain, let their citizens in the overseas territories vote for the national legislative body (i.e., France, Denmark, Portugal, Spain and Netherlands).
another real bad idea by billary.
“Taxation Without Representation” That is the DC license tag motto. Okay so.. don’t tax them. Don’t let them vote, either. This entire issue is such a strawman it is unbelievable!
A straw man is a position assigned to a debate opponent which that person does not hold and never advocated. Not sure what that has to do with the subject at hand. I think you’re confusing terminology here.
Puerto Ricans don’t pay US federal income taxes so their situation is not the same as D.C. residents.
D.C. residents not having a full vote in Congress while they pay the same federal income taxes residents of the 50 states do is a national embarrassment. This is a major constitutional flaw that no one at the highest levels wants to address because of the political sensitivity, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a serious injustice and, as Richard has pointed out numerous times here, yet another instance of where the rest of planet Earth acts rationally and the USA stands alone in its irrationality (forcing everyone here to learn cups, gallons, yards, and miles is another such stroke of genius).
I don’t support Hillary Clinton but I applaud her willingness at least to address the issue, while the Democratic Party at large has quietly let it drop from their platform.
I assume that Ralph Nader, if he runs, will again hammer away at D.C. statehood as he has in his past campaigns. He will, sadly, be a lonely voice as far as this issue is concerned.
If Hillary Clinton really cared about this issue, she would convince the Democratic Congress that she is a part of to declare Washington D.C. the 51st state.
The Constitution says the “people of the several states.” If DC wants full voting rights it should be returned to Maryland. As for PR and other territories they should become states if they want to have full voting rights. I would support their statehood.
Maryland has no interest in absorbing the District of Columbia, nor should they be forced to. As for the other colonies….er, I mean, territories……there are no significant movements for statehood in Guam, the Mariana Islands, etc. nor should there be. Frankly, those places should all be set free as Great Britain and France did long ago with their Pacific possessions.
D.C. cannot make its own laws without Congress’ say-so, it has to provide city services free of charge to tens of thousands of commuters every day, and it cannot levy property taxes on the biggest landholder in the city by far (the federal government), yet each D.C. resident has to pay federal income tax. The residents of D.C. should no longer be forced to pay for an error in judgment on the part of the framers of the Constitution. Until that is rectified either by statehood or by a constitutional amendment, the US Senate should stop ratifying treaties with which it knows the USA cannot comply, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which not permitting residents of a nation’s capital to have full representation in that nation’s legislative body is a violation.
If making the District a state were a politically neutral process instead of being so obviously advantageous to the Democratic Party, it would have happened a long time ago. This is ultimately a political issue, not a constitutional one.
France hasn’t set New Caledonia free, nor has it set Tahiti free. France hasn’t freed any territory anywhere in the world in the 20th century, except for African territories (and it was forced out of Indochina, and out of its possessions in India and China). France also still possesses French Guyana in South America, and St. Pierre & Miquelon, and all its Caribbean Islands. But, all those places can vote in French national elections.
I stand corrected regarding New Caledonia and Tahiti. 🙂