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	It's nice that D.C. gets attention (Published May 3, 2004) By BILL MOSLEY

As Oscar Wilde said, "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

While everyone would rather be on the receiving end of compliments than of insults, a derogatory remark often is the best proof that people are paying attention.

This thought occurred to me when I read a story posted on the Fox News Web site. The story involved an effort by D.C. democracy activists to take the struggle for full citizenship to international bodies as a means to embarrass and pressure our own Congress. This campaign builds on a finding last December by a panel of the Organization of American States that the United States violates international human rights standards by denying congressional voting representation to citizens of the District.

Fox, no doubt fulfilling its motto of being "fair and balanced," apparently decided a story about champions of democracy needed to be balanced by the viewpoint that we have quite enough democracy in the District, thank you. One Todd Gaziano of the Heritage Foundation told Fox that "D.C. residents should know that . . . they have greater virtual representation – rather than direct representation – than any other people in the country" due to living in the nation’s capital.

You could have fooled me. All these years that I thought I was disenfranchised, I actually had "virtual representation" – all because I live within a Metro ride of the seat of government!

I supposed I overlooked the advantages of living close to the powers that be, given the fact that Congress is forever using its powers over the District to our disadvantage. Over the objections of a majority of D.C. residents, Congress chose to impose school vouchers on the District, continuing its penchant to use us as guinea pigs for the pet projects of influential lawmakers. A ban on needle exchange programs has sent our HIV/AIDS death rate skyward; our strict gun control laws are continually under attack (but, for now, intact). Congressional interference in our budgets has held up critically needed funding for education, public safety and other vital programs.

True, there are well-heeled, well-connected individuals and institutions in the District who are welcomed in the halls of Congress – especially those carrying water for the party in control of the government. For example, Heritage – a reliable supporter of Bush administration policies – attacks the District while hiding behind its nonprofit status, which forgives it from much of the tax burden of a normal D.C. resident or business. (A spokesman for Heritage told me the organization pays "some" property tax and sales taxes). So, while Heritage dodges its fair share of the payment for D.C. services – police, fire, roads, etc. – we "virtually represented" folk must cover for them so Heritage can continue to take advantage of our hospitality while ensconced in their Capitol Hill digs.

"Virtual" representation? Evidence shows that mere physical proximity to power does not translate into influence. The average D.C. resident has no more clout with a voting member of Congress than does a citizen of, for example, Guam – and D.C. residents, unlike Guamanians, are required to pay federal taxes to underwrite their disenfranchisement.

Take, for example, the case of the seven D.C. citizens (including myself) who visited the office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert last Oct. 1 to deliver petitions in support of freeing the District’s budget from congressional control. Not only were we not granted a meeting with the speaker; we were unceremoniously ushered out of his office in handcuffs. We each face a potential six months in jail and $300 in fines for simply exercising our First Amendment right to petition the government. Or is the government claiming that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to citizens of the District of Columbia? (Our trial has been rescheduled to begin July 6 at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 212 of D.C. Superior Court, 500 Indiana Ave. NW, before Judge Craig Iscoe. A pre-trial rally outside the courthouse will begin at 8 a.m. that day.)

"Virtual representation" to a citizen is about as useful as "virtual oxygen" to a suffocating person. There’s only one kind of representation that counts – the kind that provides a real voice and vote, the kind that all taxpaying Americans enjoy, except for the 570,000 residents of the nation’s capital.

But we can take solace from attacks such as Heritage’s on our efforts to win full democracy, for they show that our message is getting through. Who knows? Maybe President Bush can take a break from creating democracy in Iraq to again denounce D.C.’s home rule, as he did during the 2000 campaign. Then we’d really be on a roll.

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Bill Mosley is a member of the Stand Up! For Democracy in D.C. Coalition. Contact him at billmosley@verizon.net.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator