Do you want health care reform?
Do you want meaningful climate change legislation?
Do you want better regulation of banks and more limits on business?
Having two more Democratic Senators would go a long way in making these things a reality, no?
Then it's time for you to call your Representative and Senators and give them an ultimatum: Unless they co-sponsor and put political capital toward a Constitutional Amendment granting DC residents the representative and two Senators to which we're entitled as American citizens, they can't count on your support.
It's that simple, really. If 60 votes is going to be the roadblock (yeah, it'd probably be 61 in a 102-person Senate), having two more Democratic Senators would be very helpful. And given that DC is by far the most progressive, Democratic state in the nation - with a whopping 93% voting for Barack Obama in 2008 - there's no doubt in my mind that the two men or women we'd send to the Senate would be among the most progressive in that body, just as progressive as our non-voting representative, the honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Wouldn't two more progressive Democratic Senators look really, really nice right about now as we're talking about cloture for a public option? It's a shame the Democrats didn't do this sooner - like, say, when they retook Congress in 2006.
Of course, aside from the sheer political math of the situation - and definitely more important - it's a matter of democracy, plain and simple. Our forefathers broke from England, among other reasons, because they were being taxed by a government in which they had no representation.
We in DC pay taxes like American citizens. We can be drafted like American citizens. We're subject to Federal law like American citizens. So why don't we get a voting representative and two Senators, like all the other taxpaying American citizens?
And why the hell isn't the disenfranchisement of almost 600,000 Americans a major priority for the progressive movement? Why aren't there boycotts of the DNC, DSCC, and DCCC on our behalf? Why aren't people on the streets protesting for our rights? Why does the denial of basic civil rights to over half a million American citizens merit nary a blip on the progressive movement's radar screen?
So I'm asking you to take the following actions. All of them.
- Decide that you're not going to support any candidate for the US House of Representatives, the US Senate, or the state legislature that doesn't vocally and openly support a Constitutional amendment acknowledging DC's right to two Senators and a representative.
- Let those people know that your support for them will depend on their standing up for DC residents' civil rights - and not just lip service, but making DC civil rights a major part of their platform, co-sponsoring the Constitutional amendment acknowledging DC residents' civil rights, and pushing the issue if it stalls. Tell them (at least the Senators and Representatives) that if you don't see them on CNN, MSNBC, and/or the Sunday morning shows advocating DC civil rights, they can't count on your support in the next election. And mean it.
- Use your networks to talk about the un-American disenfranchisement of DC residents. Talk to your friends, your family, your coworkers, and ask them to take actions #1 and #2 as well. Post status updates on Facebook, tweets on Twitter, and diaries on DailyKos, docudharma, OpenLeft, FDL, or wherever else you happen to frequent. Tell everyone you know that almost 600,000 taxpaying American citizens are currently disenfranchised under our system. (If it helps to compare this to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s - and this is definitely in line with those struggles - you can point out that a majority of the disenfranchised residents of DC are African-American.)
The only way we're going to get our civil rights is if progressives in the 50 enfranchised states stand up for us. We don't get to stand up for ourselves. And for us Democrats it should be an added bonus: Full civil rights for DC residents means two more reliably progressive Senators, and one more reliably progressive Representative.
So what are you going to do about it?