COMMENTARY: Overlooked injustice: congressional control of the nation’s capital

c. 1999 Religion News Service (The Rev. Meg Riley directs the Washington Office for Faith in Action for the Unitarian Universalist Association. She is co-chair of Equal Partners in Faith, a national, multifaith network dedicated to promoting positive values of religion in society and a regular contributor to the RNS”Voices of Women in Religion”series.) UNDATED […]

c. 1999 Religion News Service

(The Rev. Meg Riley directs the Washington Office for Faith in Action for the Unitarian Universalist Association. She is co-chair of Equal Partners in Faith, a national, multifaith network dedicated to promoting positive values of religion in society and a regular contributor to the RNS”Voices of Women in Religion”series.)

UNDATED _ The majority of members in the House of Representatives are at it again: blatantly violating the wishes of a lawful, non-violent electorate. Violating, in fact, the same democratic process that elected them to office.


In late July, the House voted to prohibit the government of the District of Columbia from enacting programs which would enable drug addicts to receive clean needles, which could greatly reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. The House also voted to prohibit the use of marijuana for medical purposes in the District of Columbia. Another bill, to prohibit adoption by unmarried couples, lost by just two votes. The problem was not that any of these programs or provisions was constitutionally troublesome, or that the District of Columbia was unique or out of line in voting them into being, but that the House had moral disputes with them.

We who live here in the nation’s capital are used to being told that we are too stupid or immoral or both to know what is in our own best interest. Congress will decide for us, whether it is regarding gay and lesbian rights, the death penalty, or AIDS treatment. We are not even allowed to know whether we support the use of marijuana for medical purposes, since Congress forbade the counting of last year’s vote on the matter.

In fact, Congress’ attempts to overthrow our decisions and impose their own decisions is part, along with crab cakes and baseball games, of our summer ritual. It is part of the annual national budget process, which determines our city’s budget. Congress nickels and dimes what”their”money may be used for because we are under”their”jurisdiction.

People who do not live in the District of Columbia probably cannot comprehend what it means to have the U.S. House of Representatives as a de facto city council _ a council not elected by or accountable to the residents of the city. A council, for that matter, whose members do not live in the city and are not affected by decisions made about it. Currently, it is a Republican-controlled council for an overwhelmingly Democratic population. Perennially, it is a council that is almost exclusively white for a city which is overwhelmingly African-American. A council that is responsive to needs and demands from the folks back home in Oklahoma or Alabama or Alaska, not the residents of the District of Columbia.

Primarily, it is issue-oriented groups that determine whether or not the”folks back home”get in touch with congressional members. Gay rights groups activate their networks when Rep. Steve Largent, R-Okla., does his annual homophobic dance, insisting that federally appointed district judges may not spend one tax-funded moment processing adoptions for unmarried couples. AIDS and drug treatment groups speak out for needle exchanges.

But no vital, national network speaks out on the biggest concern underlying all of these issues: We in the United States have made a commitment to living with the results of democratic electoral process, whether we agree or disagree with its outcomes.”Government of the people, by the people, for the people”does not have a footnote exempting residents of the District of Columbia.

Most religious groups, regardless of the ethical issues involved, do not invest much in the struggle. Such seemingly localized issues just never make it high on the list of concerns. For people who do not live here, it is probably hard to care much. In response to my anger about how the system works, well meaning friends have asked me,”Well, why don’t you move out?”I would be less than honest if I said that I do not consider doing so. But whether or not I move out, hundreds of thousands of people will live here _ and deserve the right to a democratic process.”Find out what people will submit to,”wrote abolitionist Frederick Douglass,”and you have found out the exact amount of injustice which will be imposed upon them.”While residents of the District of Columbia have no one to whom to complain about this travesty of justice who can really do anything about it _ Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., is denied the right to vote in Congress _ residents of all 50 states do have the power to make this system change. In this case, contrary to the wisdom of a popular bumper sticker, people who care about justice must think locally but act globally.


AMB END RILEY

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