At a time when an opportunity to do justice seems a rare one, one has to wonder where Democrats, particularly Progressive Democrats, were when the window opened for residents of the District of Columbia. D.C. has long been among the
most reliably Democratic districts in the nation, but it has been a Republican, Tom Davis of Virginia, who has carried the torch over the past few years. Unwilling to let it expire, Rep. Davis defies leaders of his own party on an annual basis, asserting an increasingly unfamiliar proposition: it's the right thing to do - it's just that simple.
Although Davis has habitually been unable to get the bill out of committee, a "righteous wind" (as Sen. Obama might say) swept the capitol city and Davis leveraged his Chairmanship to secure
an unprecedented 29-4 vote in a House where conservatives exercise unprecedented control. See
Rep. Davis's May 18, 2006 Press Release ("Today, as American men and women are fighting for democracy in Baghdad, our Committee takes a momentous step toward bringing democracy to our Nation's Capital.")
When a mobilized Democratic party arrived, the bill would surely pass . . . right? But they did not arrive and, the longest unkept promise in American history, as revealed in a
recently released working paper, endures as a constitutional blemish on those ideals we shall purport to reaffirm days from now.
As reported in 2005, the District's financial instability persists, residents remain among the most impoverished in the nation and the District incarceration rate is the highest in the world (pg. 5). HIV has emerged as one of the District's greatest social challenges. Of course, one would be hard-pressed to find any problem facing Americans which cannot be found in the District. As the Courts have been unwilling to give substance to the Republican Guarantee, Congress seems the only viable route towards a remedy.
While organizations like D.C. Vote continue to fight for a vote in the legislative body that governs them, it is indeed regretable that so few would prefer they maintained their silence. Perhaps progressives will consider that District residents have fought in every American war (including current engagements) to protect for fellow citizens, rights they do not themselves enjoy. Wherever one stands on the war, it is shameful that so many would appease such injustice.
For what it's worth, I am not a resident of the District of Columbia. I will, however, look forward to the day when I can speak of my home as a Republic governed by "the will of the people" without feeling like a hypocrit.