Give This Woman The Right To Vote

You might have already seen the video (maybe at our favourite Discontent blog). If you haven't yet, you can watch it here:

Eleanor Holmes Norton rocks! Compared to her, every other Representative appearing on the Colbert Report's Better Know A District just sucked. The amazing thing is: she doesn't have the right to vote in the House of Representatives. She's just a so-called "delegate". That puts her in the same group as representatives of the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. There's a difference though. The people living in these territories can't vote in presidential elections and don't have to pay federal taxes. The citizens of the District of Columbia do.

Remember the slogan "no taxation without representation"? This rallying cry was the reason for Americans aiming for independence from the British crown. Somehow, the voting rights of some citizens of the USA still don't count. Congress just doesn't really care. It has the power to grant the District more rights, can even make it a state.

Contact your Representative if you believe the people of the District of Columbia deserve representation in Congress and its Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton deserves the right to vote!