To: Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Chair, Democratic National Committee
Democrats: Support Full Democracy for Nation's Capital
We, the undersigned, call upon the Democratic National Committee to take a strong stand for ending 200 years of second-class citizenship for the 600,000 residents of Washington, DC by calling on Congress to enact legislation admitting the District of Columbia into the Union as the 51st state.
Why is this important?
For 200 years, the residents of the nation's capital--the District of Columbia--have lived without the same political rights and privileges that every other American enjoys. Congress, a body in which DC residents have no formal representation, exercises complete control over the District's budget and local laws, and did not even allow DC residents to vote in elections until 1962.
The only permanent and lasting way to give DC citizens equal political rights to all other Americans is to admit the District to the Union as the 51st state. Doing so only requires a simple majority vote in Congress--not a constitutional amendment.
Yet the Democratic Party, in its platform and official statements, refuses to express support for this only true solution. It only makes vague, generic references to giving DC representation in Congress, and refused to allow statehood advocates to speak at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
We are calling on the Democratic National Committee to take a strong stand in favor of legislation that would make the District of Columbia a state, finally giving full democracy and local autonomy to 600,000 disenfranchised Americans.
The only permanent and lasting way to give DC citizens equal political rights to all other Americans is to admit the District to the Union as the 51st state. Doing so only requires a simple majority vote in Congress--not a constitutional amendment.
Yet the Democratic Party, in its platform and official statements, refuses to express support for this only true solution. It only makes vague, generic references to giving DC representation in Congress, and refused to allow statehood advocates to speak at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
We are calling on the Democratic National Committee to take a strong stand in favor of legislation that would make the District of Columbia a state, finally giving full democracy and local autonomy to 600,000 disenfranchised Americans.