Taxation Without Representation

Dear George:

Have you noticed during the past four years that your big White House is surrounded by a city? A city where many thousands of people live, work and raise their families?

Have you noticed the official motto on the license plates of that city? Well they say "Taxation Without Representation", in case you haven't looked beyond the windows of your nice, new limo.

That's right, George, we live here and pay Federal taxes as well as District taxes, but we have no voting representative in the House of Representatives nor in the Senate.

When this subject comes up in conversation, I'm often told, "Well, you chose to live there knowing that you had no vote. Now it's just too bad and you have to live with your decision." My response to that has been to ask whether they'd have told black folks that they should continue to be denied the right to vote because that's the way things always were? What about women? Should the Suffragettes have been told to forget about it, because that was the status quo?

Well, George, the District of Columbia might be a city full of Democrats, but even a Republican President can see what a wonderful place he'd have in history if only he'd support the right of the residents of D.C. to have a full voice in the government of our glorious Republic. Hey, if that doesn't work you can go ahead and exempt us from the payment of Federal taxes. Your choice.

Karen
Age 49
Washington, DC