Cleaning in front of your door first makes sense
Democracy is good.
And some think it is so good that it needs to be spread over the entire world. Whether a country wants it or not. In particular the current president of the USA and his close followers think this way. Strangely enough, it is literally in front of their door, where an anomaly of the US democracy is still in place more than 225 years after the declaration of independence.
One person, one vote. Not in the US.
I was quite surprised when I learnt about this not so long ago. You have three types of citizens in this country: you have the large majority. They life somewhere in one of the 50 states that make up the second word in the country's name. The can vote for Congress and they pay federal taxes. Then there are the inhabitants of the US territories, e.g. Puerto Rico. They cannot vote and thus do not pay federal taxes. Makes sense, doesn't it?
And then at the end of the latter there are the Washingtonians. They do have a representative in the House of Representatives (comparable to the "Nationalrat" in Switzerland), but this person is not allowed to vote. However, the Washingtonians enjoy the pleasure to pay federal taxes, which are used to preach Democracy elsewhere. But that is not all. Congress (representatives from all corners of this country, except Washington DC) have the constitutional duty to oversee the activities in Washington. Theoretically, Congress could enact any kind of law in the Disctrict, and its citizens would simply have to swallow it.
Good things come to those who wait
Over the course of time, some elements of a local government were introduced in Washington DC. Since 1973, the city has a City Council, which serves as the legislative branch of the local government. Yet, all its laws are subject to approval by Congress. The House and the Senate both have standing committees, which are responsible for the oversight of the District of Columbia. However, it is not really a privilege to serve on those committees, as there are no merits to gain. Since senators and representatives want to impress their constituents in order to get re-elected, they have little interest to do a good job overseeing the lawmakers in DC, where they cannot gain any votes. This leads to interesting developments. Washington has one of the toughest gun laws in the country. Hand guns are illegal in this city, and long guns need to be registered. Much to the disliking of conservative Republicans, though, who believe this is a violation of the second amendment of the US constitution. In two attempts so far, they tried to get away with this law. Without success. A funny thought that a Representative from Texas could influence the laws in Washington. It is about as scary as the notion that Christoph Mörgeli or any other of the ultra-conservative gnomes of the Swiss Peoples Party could actively influence the law making in Bern...
History gets forgotten easily
The lack of representation of the colonialists in the British parliament led to the independence war in 1775, which eventually led to the founding of the US. Yet, the same unfair treatment that led to independence is still imposed on the citizens of the District of Columbia in 2007. And this nation is continuously preaching the values of democracy around the globe? Well, wouldn't it make sense to clean in front of the own door first? Indeed it does. The new Mayor of Washington, Adrian Fenty, announced a march to the Capitol on April 16 and a bill to give Washingtonians a full representation in the US Congress is underway. Maybe the Democrats, controlling both houses of Congress, might finally rectify this anomaly in the US political system.
Postscriptum
The flags were flown at half-mast for 30 days. This is not a coincidence. It's the law. According to Wikipedia, the following rules apply:
And some think it is so good that it needs to be spread over the entire world. Whether a country wants it or not. In particular the current president of the USA and his close followers think this way. Strangely enough, it is literally in front of their door, where an anomaly of the US democracy is still in place more than 225 years after the declaration of independence.
One person, one vote. Not in the US.
I was quite surprised when I learnt about this not so long ago. You have three types of citizens in this country: you have the large majority. They life somewhere in one of the 50 states that make up the second word in the country's name. The can vote for Congress and they pay federal taxes. Then there are the inhabitants of the US territories, e.g. Puerto Rico. They cannot vote and thus do not pay federal taxes. Makes sense, doesn't it?
And then at the end of the latter there are the Washingtonians. They do have a representative in the House of Representatives (comparable to the "Nationalrat" in Switzerland), but this person is not allowed to vote. However, the Washingtonians enjoy the pleasure to pay federal taxes, which are used to preach Democracy elsewhere. But that is not all. Congress (representatives from all corners of this country, except Washington DC) have the constitutional duty to oversee the activities in Washington. Theoretically, Congress could enact any kind of law in the Disctrict, and its citizens would simply have to swallow it.Good things come to those who wait
Over the course of time, some elements of a local government were introduced in Washington DC. Since 1973, the city has a City Council, which serves as the legislative branch of the local government. Yet, all its laws are subject to approval by Congress. The House and the Senate both have standing committees, which are responsible for the oversight of the District of Columbia. However, it is not really a privilege to serve on those committees, as there are no merits to gain. Since senators and representatives want to impress their constituents in order to get re-elected, they have little interest to do a good job overseeing the lawmakers in DC, where they cannot gain any votes. This leads to interesting developments. Washington has one of the toughest gun laws in the country. Hand guns are illegal in this city, and long guns need to be registered. Much to the disliking of conservative Republicans, though, who believe this is a violation of the second amendment of the US constitution. In two attempts so far, they tried to get away with this law. Without success. A funny thought that a Representative from Texas could influence the laws in Washington. It is about as scary as the notion that Christoph Mörgeli or any other of the ultra-conservative gnomes of the Swiss Peoples Party could actively influence the law making in Bern...
History gets forgotten easily
The lack of representation of the colonialists in the British parliament led to the independence war in 1775, which eventually led to the founding of the US. Yet, the same unfair treatment that led to independence is still imposed on the citizens of the District of Columbia in 2007. And this nation is continuously preaching the values of democracy around the globe? Well, wouldn't it make sense to clean in front of the own door first? Indeed it does. The new Mayor of Washington, Adrian Fenty, announced a march to the Capitol on April 16 and a bill to give Washingtonians a full representation in the US Congress is underway. Maybe the Democrats, controlling both houses of Congress, might finally rectify this anomaly in the US political system.
Postscriptum
The flags were flown at half-mast for 30 days. This is not a coincidence. It's the law. According to Wikipedia, the following rules apply:
- For thirty days after the death of a current or former president.
- For ten days after the death of a current vice president, chief justice, or speaker of the House of Representatives.
- From the day of death until interment of an associate justice of the Supreme Court, a secretary of an executive or military department, a former vice president, or the governor of a state, territory, or possession.
- On the day of death and the following day for a member of Congress- i.e. a senator, a representative, a delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.
- On Memorial Day until noon.
- Upon presidential proclamation, which have included: the remembrance of the 9/11 attacks, the death of Pope John Paul II, the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami, and the death of Coretta Scott King.
Klodynis - 2007-02-05 00:00
Bold enough:-P