More "elitism" and elimination of democracy by the GOP

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  Feb 19, 2011 8:01 PM GMT

  ABA to Congress: Restore voting rights for DC, PR, other territorial delegates.
  The American Bar Association — with membership topping 400,000 — has passed a resolution calling on the U.S. House to restore voting rights in the Committee of the Whole to the delegates from Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories......
  The House Committee of the Whole expired in early January when the 112th Congress was sworn in. The House’s first order of business was the adoption of its House Rules and one of the many changes the new Republican leadership implemented was to strip D.C. and the U.S. territories of the power to vote in the Committee of the Whole — a reference to a House procedure that fast-tracks legislation by effectively turning the entire chamber into a committee......
  “The Republican rules package dishonors and demeans Americans living in the territories and the District of Columbia. It says to them: your voice does not matter. You are not important. And you do not count,” he said. “What a sad and shameful way to begin the 112th Congress.”
  
  
  
  Wow, just WOW!

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  Feb 19, 2011 9:25 PM GMT

  This is perfectly logical and predictable, if you realize Republicans are all about EXclusion, not INclusion. Just wait to see what they try regarding us gays. State legislatures & Governors have already begun against us. The US House will not be left behind.

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• musclmed
  
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  Feb 19, 2011 10:05 PM GMT

  TropicalMark saidABA to Congress: Restore voting rights for DC, PR, other territorial delegates.
  The American Bar Association — with membership topping 400,000 — has passed a resolution calling on the U.S. House to restore voting rights in the Committee of the Whole to the delegates from Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories......
  The House Committee of the Whole expired in early January when the 112th Congress was sworn in. The House’s first order of business was the adoption of its House Rules and one of the many changes the new Republican leadership implemented was to strip D.C. and the U.S. territories of the power to vote in the Committee of the Whole — a reference to a House procedure that fast-tracks legislation by effectively turning the entire chamber into a committee......
  “The Republican rules package dishonors and demeans Americans living in the territories and the District of Columbia. It says to them: your voice does not matter. You are not important. And you do not count,” he said. “What a sad and shameful way to begin the 112th Congress.”
  
  
  
  Wow, just WOW!

  
  
  We need to change the constitution to allow them to vote. ( in a permanent way)
  
  Or they should petition for statehood.
  
  Delegates are non voting members and the status are set by the rules of the house.
  
  The territories involved should band together to become a state so they can get 2 senators.
  
  
  Simple.
  
  
  

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  Feb 19, 2011 10:44 PM GMT

  musclmed said

  TropicalMark saidABA to Congress: Restore voting rights for DC, PR, other territorial delegates.
  The American Bar Association — with membership topping 400,000 — has passed a resolution calling on the U.S. House to restore voting rights in the Committee of the Whole to the delegates from Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories......
  The House Committee of the Whole expired in early January when the 112th Congress was sworn in. The House’s first order of business was the adoption of its House Rules and one of the many changes the new Republican leadership implemented was to strip D.C. and the U.S. territories of the power to vote in the Committee of the Whole — a reference to a House procedure that fast-tracks legislation by effectively turning the entire chamber into a committee......
  “The Republican rules package dishonors and demeans Americans living in the territories and the District of Columbia. It says to them: your voice does not matter. You are not important. And you do not count,” he said. “What a sad and shameful way to begin the 112th Congress.”
  
  
  
  Wow, just WOW!

  
  
  We need to change the constitution to allow them to vote. ( in a permanent way)
  
  Or they should petition for statehood.
  
  Delegates are non voting members and the status are set by the rules of the house.
  
  The territories involved should band together to become a state so they can get 2 senators.
  
  
  Simple.
  
  
  

  
  
  Nice to agree on something!

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  Feb 19, 2011 11:07 PM GMT

  musclmed saidOr they should petition for statehood.
  
  Delegates are non voting members and the status are set by the rules of the house.
  
  The territories involved should band together to become a state so they can get 2 senators.
  
  
  Simple.

  
  Statehood would never be granted, because the residents aren't Anglos. Republicans would shoot that down in a second. Hawaii only made it because Anglos controlled it, and it was seen as a strategic Pacific base during the Cold War.
  
  Frankly, I don't think any extraterritorial US States should ever be created. And I have always doubted Hawaii being a State.
  
  Nor should the US have territories, which is an imperialist concept. Those territories should be given their independence, as we gave to the Philippines ages ago.
  
  As for the District of Columbia, that is a quirk of the US Constitution, part of the compromises that were hammered out in Philadelphia over 200 years ago. The fear was that one of the 13 Colonies would control the new Capitol, so the District had to be made autonomous. But neither would the Colonies agree to allowing it full representation, since it wasn't one of them.
  
  Apparently "No taxation without representation" was a purely parochial issue for the colonists, not a universal principle. This injustice could be corrected by a Constitution amendment today. But Congressional Republicans will never agree to it, since the current voter demographic in DC is Black & Democrat. If it were White & Republican they would send it to the States for ratification in a flash.
  
  And so today, about 600,000 Americans can likewise protest, as their forebears did over 200 years ago, "No taxation without representation." An injustice that the new Republican House has made even more egregious by further silencing the voices of over a half-million people.

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  Feb 20, 2011 3:14 AM GMT

  Art_Deco said

  musclmed saidOr they should petition for statehood.
  
  Delegates are non voting members and the status are set by the rules of the house.
  
  The territories involved should band together to become a state so they can get 2 senators.
  
  
  Simple.

  
  Statehood would never be granted, because the residents aren't Anglos. Republicans would shoot that down in a second. Hawaii only made it because Anglos controlled it, and it was seen as a strategic Pacific base during the Cold War.
  
  Frankly, I don't think any extraterritorial US States should ever be created. And I have always doubted Hawaii being a State.
  
  Nor should the US have territories, which is an imperialist concept. Those territories should be given their independence, as we gave to the Philippines ages ago.
  
  As for the District of Columbia, that is a quirk of the US Constitution, part of the compromises that were hammered out in Philadelphia over 200 years ago. The fear was that one of the 13 Colonies would control the new Capitol, so the District had to be made autonomous. But neither would the Colonies agree to allowing it full representation, since it wasn't one of them.
  
  Apparently "No taxation without representation" was a purely parochial issue for the colonists, not a universal principle. This injustice could be corrected by a Constitution amendment today. But Congressional Republicans will never agree to it, since the current voter demographic in DC is Black & Democrat. If it were White & Republican they would send it to the States for ratification in a flash.
  
  And so today, about 600,000 Americans can likewise protest, as their forebears did over 200 years ago, "No taxation without representation." An injustice that the new Republican House has made even more egregious by further silencing the voices of over a half-million people.

  Make that FIVE MILLION people.

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