Which of these quotes is not American?

"That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity;"

Virginia Bill of Rights

" That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people, in assembly, ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for publick uses without their own consent, or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not, in like manner, assented, for the publick good."

Virginia Bill of Rights

"That no free government, or the blessing of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."

Virginia Bill of Rights

"Bad principles in a Govt. tho slow are sure in their operation, and will gradually destroy it."

A. Hamilton

"Equal laws, protecting equal rights, are found, as they ought to be presumed, the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country;..."

J. Madison

"[T]he right of electing the members of the government constitutes more particularly the essence of a free and responsible government."

J. Madison

"[M]en cannot be justly bound by laws, in making which they have no share."

J. Madison

" Extreme cases of oppression justify... a resort to the original right of resistance, a right belonging to every community, under every form of Government..."

J. Madison

"Friends" (in quotes)

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

First principles? Like Consent of the Governed?


"The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature’s God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed."

From   "The Mount Vernon Statement",    February, 2010

And yet half-a-million-plus Americans have been Governed Without Consent, for more than two centuries, their participation in the national consensus denied, their inalienable (innate, inherent, intrinsic) right as free citizens to a fair and equal vote with the rest of their countrymen in determining the affairs of the nation unrecognized and un-respected. Artificial, anachronistic, and arbitrary provisions notwithstanding, under the First Principle of "Consent of the Governed", the national legislature has no legitimate right or authority to assert Absolute Power, as of 1801 (as in "Congress shall have the power ... to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such District"), than the British Parliament had in 1766 to assert similar power over a similarly unrepresented minority (at the time) of the British nation. No legitimate basis exists to exclude otherwise eligible citizens from full participation in the national debate and concensus simply because of location or proximity. Concepts such as court eunuchs and royal demense are antiquated and feudal, with no place in a government conceptually based on participatory principles such as "All men are created equal". Treating fellow citizens and countrymen in effect as house-slaves, a lower caste, outcasts, expatriates, pariahs and/or exiles, simply because of the location of their residence, diminishes the honor of the nation, and the legitimacy of the government.

 Making Representation Happen

There are MANY ways to accomplish DC representation, but ALL must pass muster with the residents of the fifty states, and NONE depend in any way on the opinions of we DC residents. (If that isn’t close to slavery, I don’t know what IS).

But here’s a suggestion, anyway.

Since expatriate Americans are allowed to vote in the State of their last residence, why not create a similar allowance for (expatriate) DC residents? Allow them to “affiliate” with one of the states and vote there. After all, it does say “people ‘of’ the several states”, not people “residing in” the several states. This would alleviate the partisan problems of making DC a state, or retroceding it to Maryland. I could have moved from my home state to anywhere else in the WORLD (except Washington, DC) and continued voting for the last thirty-five years. And the people of DC are clearly “of” the several states, as opposed to being the people “of” the Asian steppes, or “of” the African savannah, or “of” the Argentinian pampas, or “of” the (Ant-)Arctic tundra.

Look up the definition of the word “of”.

And if you want to alleviate or mitigate an even wider disparity, allow them to affiliate only with the –smaller– states; Wyoming has two Senators for only about half a million people, whereas California has only two Senators for well over 25 million, a greater than fifty-to-one disparity.

That solution, along with a more restrictive limit on the local power of the Congress over DC (for example, make them pass exclusive legislation over DC “in all cases whatsoever” by a super-majority of both houses, if it is for such a compelling national interest!), would resolve most if not all of the objections to the present situation.

Power corrupts, and Absolute Power, “in all cases whatsoever”, corrupts absolutely. Government without Consent is Tyranny.

"Protect our democracy" in light of Citizens United ruling...????

PROTECT our Democracy??? How about RESTORE our democracy??? We denizens of DC have been living under the despotic constitutionalism of the District Clause (compare with the Declaratory Act of 1766; in both cases a national legislature arrogates to itself illegitimate, unwarranted absolute power over an unrepresented national minority) for over 200 years.