D.C. Voting Rights Can't Be Traded for Tax Breaks

Reader Comments
Back to blog

Born a Wisconsin native, I have the right to vote by birthright.
Rights such as the right to Consent to how one is Governed do not depend on boundaries or place of residence. If I lived in Europe or Asia, I would still be voting in Wisconsin. The right to Consent to how one is Governed is inalienable, that is, innate, inherent, intrinsic to membership in the nation. Just as the rights of blacks and women are/were innate, inherent, and intrinsic, even if they went unrecognized and unrespected for decades or centuries... You can not believe, on the one hand, that "all men are created equal" and then deduce that some men have the right to legislate over others "in all cases whatsoever", as was the attempted assertion in both the District Clause of 1789, and the Declaratory Act of 1766.
Logic and principle require equality. The founders (Madison, Mason, et al.) specifically urged "frequent recurrence to fundamental principles." Fundamental principles such as Consent of the Governed must inevitably and eventually trump such archaic, arbitrary, anachronistic and artificial condtions as slavery, subjugation of women, and the District Clause.

citizenw of DC 3:12PM March 08, 2009

Bob I see that you removed the last post so here it goes again. The Bill of Rights define the limits that are placed upon Government not individuals. If anything what should come out of the desire for the District of Columbia to have a voice in congress is to go through the process to become a State. Since the District of Columbia is not the property of the state of Virginia it has that ability. The citizen of DC who wrote should learn where the boundries are before making false assumptions concerning his rights. Legally he is in a different ballpark.
Which brings me back to you Bob. I questioned your intelligence before on the basis that 200 plus years of law precident have been established on the issues of statehood. If you look at the 23 amendment you would see in Section 1 right after the first statement it says that the Distric would be entitled if it were a state, but in no event more than the least populous state.
You should read your Constitution before making wild conjecture in your blog.

Jeff of WI 7:04PM March 06, 2009

pow vai logo atende

fgdcvfgg of MO 1:27PM March 06, 2009

Gm como faz a ques negosso pq eu nao sei nadaela apreceu na minha tela que vc mando ai eufi clicando mas nao sabia m esplica pliiz

eduardo of ND 1:24PM March 06, 2009

6. That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people, in assembly, ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for publick uses without their own consent, or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not, in like manner, assented, for the publick good. Virginia Bill of Rights, June 12, 1776

citizenw of DC 5:54PM March 05, 2009