Delegate Holmes Norton: DC Voting Rights Act

[Baileygeep7]

from the democrat queer central media queens aka the washington post"On Wednesday afternoon, BigGovernment -- a Web site run by controversial conservative muckraker Andrew Breitbart -- posted an audio copy and transcript of a phone call Norton made to an unknown lobbyist, asking for a campaign contribution. In the call, the authenticity of which has not been challenged, " Is the lesbian bitchess going to sue or to prison, looks like you democrat acorn assholes are again this guys bitch.

[Nenendude]

ELEANOR FOR SENATOR!!!!!!!!! NOW!

[missoulachillin]

the district of columbia pays more than 20 billion dollars a year in taxes, thats more than five states. not only should they have an at large seat in the house of representatives, but they should also have two seats in the senate!

[AnduinX]

This is unconstitutional and should never be allowed. Washington is not a state, nor should it be a state.

Your taxes are a local issue, if you're unhappy with the rate of taxes you pay then you should be up in arms about your taxes, not trying to ram an unconstitutional bill down our throats.

Why should washington D.C. get a representative, but not New York? Or Chicago?

[pinkieer]

Then we shouldn't be required to pay federal taxes. Simple as that. We're US citizens and treated as less than that.

[AnduinX]

It was retarded to declare D.C. separate from Maryland in the first place. D.C. should rejoin Maryland, then you would have a voice the same as everybody else.

[sig0]

No! If you want a congressional vote, move into a state. The word cunt is reserved for women like this and this cunt is so thirsty for power that she watering at the mouth. With all of the cancer and sickness in the world why can we not be rid of Norton to one of them?

[AfrikanSunRa]

I be you wouldn't say this to her face

[Wayney06]

We pay federal taxes, get you facts straight. The last time I checked the federal governemnt was at the national level not local.

[AnduinX]

Was that addressed at me? What is your point? I never said federal taxes were not at the national level.

Your 'taxation without representation' is a "local" problem because it only affects your area, do you understand?

And again all of this would be solved if D.C. would simply rejoin Maryland. D.C. never should have been 'separated' in the first place.

[vaguy78]

The citizens of DC can gather as much sympathy as they want but the fact remains that it would be UNCONSTITUTIONAL to grant DC a vote in Congress. It doesn't matter how you may personally feel about this.... the Constitution is clear. The STATES have a vote in Congress and DC is not a State.

[Husker18]

This is not as clear-cut as you suggest. The Constitution gives Congress broad powers over its own membership. Article I, Section 5 begins: "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members...". In other words, as it pertains to Congress' membership, Congress is the sole judge. If Congress passes a law adding a representative for the District, there is a solid legal foundation for its action.

[Geographer76]

Democrats??? Fiscal Responsibility???? 3 Trillion Dollars in Corporate Handouts, that is the sign of Democrat fiscal responsibility. On gun laws, the SCOTUS over ruled the DC Gun bans. Nice rhetoric Delagate Notron,... too bad it is all a lie.

[kirby4d]

Republicans??? Fiscal Responsibility???? 5 Trillion Dollars in Defense Contractor Handouts, that is the sign of Republican fiscal responsibility.

[Geographer76]

I agree that voting rights for DC residents should be allowed. But I must point out that such a move would require a Constitutional Amendment. Without an Amendment, this law will be Unconstitutional.

[kirby4d]

It's debatable. I haven't really reread the part of the Const. that talks about the House, but it may only stipulate that AT LEAST the states must be represented and not ONLY. Meaning that anyone can get representation as long as the states are represented.

[lilmzshari]

i love you congresswoman norton!!!!!!!

[osmosis1988]

No Taxation without Representation, tell them Delegate Holmes Norton, I'm so tired of those Republicans

[Geographer76]

If the Repug are at fault, why have the Dems not passed this into law? They are the power party in both the House, Senate and White House? Are the Dems that lame that they can't get this done even when they control everything?

[americankgb]

Congresswoman! You are my hero. Your eloquence and intellect inspire me.

[RadarGuidedVermin]

@americankgb Eleanor Holmes Norton is an elitist sow who should not be given any power as long as she advocates stripping citizens of their constitutional protections.

[bunjointflo]

Just imagine paying a 10% tax on food, clothing, and other things! I live in DC by the way...

[neothomist1275]

The District of Columbia (trademarks United States, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, USA, U.S.A) is a Crown Corporation which entered into co-extensive rule with Washington City with the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871.

[Geographer76]

Your 10% is a "sales tax, not a Federal tax if you want to bitch about a sales tax call your city council, they imposed it.

[Electrancemusic]

Good for her. Why the hell should she have to yield during her time? Good arguments too.

[theominousthey]

I love Norton. It's possible that having such a powerful conscience is a luxury you get from not having to make compromises on votes, but it's hard to say. At any rate, DC certainly deserves the vote.

[goingemoguy]

This was on the Colbert Report

[mossydog]

People of D.C. should get the vote. Racist bigoted retards like Liveleaker should not only not be allowed to vote, they should be given a one way ticket out of our democracy. What's the bets that Liveleaker is white, male, Republican, sexually insecure, calls himself a Christian, supports the war in Iraq, but is to cowardly to fight in it?

[Geographer76]

We are not a democracy. We are a Representative Republic. Go back to school.

[montavilla]

I've been looking for this video. Thanks for posting. She is such a fantastic speaker.

michaelachilles: interesting point. I'll need to research into that - might be a solution, albiet not a happy one for the proud residents of D.C.

[michaelachilles]

If the remaining area of D C wants to the vote they needed to rejoin the State of Maryland as the Virginia portion of DC was retroceded back to State of Virginia in 1846.

[zhinz]

Too bad it still probably won't pass. Maybe in 2008 (if the Democrat's take over the executive branch).

[john7108]

It was originally an anomaly in how DC was set up. But, sadly now, it's a racial thing now. Majority blacks in DC are turning the GOP against giving them voting rights.

Pathetic.

[Dumbell99]

In canada not all of us get to vote for who we want. We have a first past the post system which mean only certain parties get in power and you're vote is meaningless if you do not vote the same as your community.

[CanadaFof]

Of course we can vote for whomever we want. I'm not quite sure I follow what you mean.

[Dumbell99]

For example, if you live in a community that votes largly Conservative and you vote green...well guess what...your vote is meaning less. In a Porportional representation you vote would be included in a national percentage and would go toward the green candidates that got the most votes in their riding and they would get a deat for example: If the greens get 10 percent in the next election they would get 10 percent of the 308 seats..instead of none. (30.8 seats!)

[CanadaFof]

Prop-rep has its pros and cons, the most obvious of the latter being that a lot of the MPs thusly elected would have little (if any) connection with a home-riding. Perhaps prop-rep could be incorporated into the election of a reformed Senate.

By the way, I certainly hope you're not encouraging anyone to vote for the Green Party! ;)

[goingemoguy]

I sometimes vote green. but usually vote dem.

[CanadaFof]

Speaking as a non-American, let me say that it is shocking that 600,000 of your people are disenfranchised.

[snip7777]

They're not disenfranchised. They're living in a federal district that was granted from an already-existing state - Maryland - with the agreement that an entirely new state wouldn't be created from that ceded district.

It would be like giving national parks and national forests their own statehood and commensurate voting rights.

[CanadaFof]

The pertinent issue still remains: over half a million of your fellow Americans have no voting representative in the Congress simply because of where they live.

As for your forest-analogy, I'm not sure about how many people in the USA live in national parks, but would I be wrong in assuming that even those few grizzled woodsmen and women who do would still have the right to vote in congressional elections?

[snip7777]

No, the pertinent issue IS: the district was ceded by Maryland. It was promised that no new state would be created from this ceded land. What part of "legally binding agreement and committment" is difficult for you to understand?

[goingemoguy]

This seems common sense to me. Giving the people of this district a vote in the house isn't creating another stae but giving them real representation, which they deserve just as much as any other district in this country. The voters of this district are US citzens, yet they don't have a vote in their house. Where is the justification?

[CanadaFof]

I, for one, can't think of a justification that's sufficient.

[RJBuzz]

Ok, kiddies, then explain why am I being levied a federal tax? I consider that stealing, particularly because that tax is largely collected by a group of individuals that only temporarily live in this city, have no vested interest in what actually happens in DC.

We are talking about half a million people getting taxed without federal representation, that's stealing.

[kirby4d]

Except that people live in DC while no one lives in national parks.

[spdcheetah]

I can't stop talking about this video. Great stuff.

Liveleaker, you're an embarrassment to yourself and this country.

[sparkydc]

Tell it, Mrs. Norton!

[chrisafer]

liveleaker, shut the hell up. I think Alaska's bridge to nowhere is a bit more ridiculous than giving a single mother a little help with feeding her children.

As a tax-paying resident of DC, either give me a voice or stop taking our money and our children for your wars.

[mrkoolkevin]

liveleaker's an idiot. Voting rights are extremely important; the basic foundation for democracy.

[songfta]

liveleaker: if you use the same logic across the country, then why do New Jersey, Texas, Florida and many other of "the several states" have voting rights? Your logic fails on many, many levels.

[leapyear]

She's an amazing speaker. Compelling stuff.

[liveleaker]

The single largest entitlement and welfare-corrupted city in the nation wants voting rights? What more can be given to the ungrateful who have everything?

[jareddegnan]

This isn't about a city - it's about people. Every American, regardless of where they live is still an American. If you cannot understand that simple fact, I feel bad for you.

[sparkydc]

By that logic, any of the fifty states that has a bad track record of anything (say, losing ballots in national elections, maybe?) should immediately have their votes in Congress taken away from them.

[cierancieran]

Freedom isn't a "right", you little racist. It's self-evident. Just because you don't like black people doesn't mean the good people of our nation's capital should be denied equal representation.

And it's not the people of DC who have "everything", it's the descendants of the white slave owners, living in gated communities off the spoils of slavery, who have everything.

[fuddled]

Didn't you listen to this elected representative's statement? The Republican congress for the last 10 years has amassed the great debts our country has ever seen, which now imperil its own party's "war on terror" plans. Yes, D.C. has corruption, just like any district. But, none can match the corruption created by the Republican party in the last 10 years.

[kirby4d]

Dude they have nothing except crime and poverty because they have no money because Congress won't let them have any.

[snip7777]

They have nothing except crime and poverty because congress won't "let them have any money"???

I make money by working, same as everyone else. I don't expect anybody to "give" me anything.

BTW, if D.C. wants their voting rights back, let Maryland take them back, like Virginia did with their portion of the original district.

If I rent an apartment to somebody and they live there a long time, that doesn't give them the right to suddenly claim ownership.

[kirby4d]

Yeah, you need money to pay for good schools and police.

I'm sure you do expect someone to put out the fire your house is in, stop the people having a gunfight outside your house, educate your children. If you don't like paying taxes or government, you are free to live on a farm and provide for yourself. The rest of us will live in society: where we pay taxes and get services.

Maryland doesn't want them back and the never had voting rights. Your analogy fails b/c the two arent even comparable.

[thelakeeffect]

She was given 5 minutes. Don't you just hate it when jerkwads try to bogart your floor time?

[Goadhatesmyspace]

Norton is a great speaker but has a poor voting record in the house.

[kirby4d]

That's because she has no vote?