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THE D.C. STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY
MEDIA RELEASE Contact: D.C. STATEHOOD GREENS BLAST SEN. FEINSTEIN'S CALL TO FORCE SCHOOL VOUCHERS ON D.C., BUT NOT IN CALIFORNIAAsserting that 'representation is not democracy!", Statehood Greens dispute recent Washington Post and New York Times editorials on vouchers and D.C. voting rights in Congress. Upcoming events for D.C. democracy: Wednesday, October 1: B.A.D. Day in the District (B.A.D = Budget Autonomy for the District) rally Democracy Rising "People Have The Power" rally, featuring Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich: postponed from September 18 because of weather, new date TBA. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Members of the D.C. Statehood Green Party sharply criticized Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for endorsing Congress's imposition of school vouchers on the District of Columbia while saying that she would never agree to vouchers for California. "Sen. Feinstein's comment reveals that Congress's disregard for the rights of the people of D.C. is often bipartisan," said Gail Dixon, a Statehood Green and longtime statehood activist who lost her seat on the D.C. Board of Education when the board was partially bureaucratized. "The plan to force school vouchers down our throats comes from Republicans, and was passed last week in the House by Republicans. Maybe we shouldn't be too surprised that Sen. Feinstein, a leading Democrat, has joined them in their contempt for D.C. residents, when eight years of the Clinton Administration brought no advance for D.C. democracy, despite promises." Few Democrats objected, say Statehood Greens, when Congress repealed D.C.'s limited home rule under the 1997 Revitalization Act, or Congress overruled Initiative 59, the medical marijuana ballot measure that passed with a 69% majority. Even D.C. nonvoting delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton was silent when the Financial Control Board, appointed by Congress, ordered D.C. to dismantle and privatize D.C. General Hospital, which set off the collapse of the District's public health care system. D.C. Statehood Green Party members also took issue with recent editorials in The Washington Post ("A Voice But No Vote", September 9) and The New York Times ("In D.C., Taxation Without Representation", September 13), which blamed the imposition of school vouchers on the District's lack of a voting seat in Congress. "The House vote to force school vouchers on D.C. is outrageous, but contrary to the Post and Times editors and some voting rights activists, the outrage is not that Del. Norton lacks a vote in Congress's decision on the matter," said Anne Anderson, chair of the Statehood Green Party's Ward 5 Committee. "The outrage is that Congress and the White House wield the power to force vouchers and other policies on the people of D.C. regardless of our will. A D.C. vote, one out of 436 or 437 in the House, would have minimal effect on voting outcomes in Congress. It's true that the voucher bill passed by a single vote in the House. But let's not fool ourselves. House Republican leaders waited until a remote hour when they knew they'd pass it by at least one vote. They'd have done the same if Ms. Norton had a vote." Statehood Greens call it a mistake to emphasize representation rather than self-governance, asserting that the school voucher outrage shows the need for statehood, which would provide not only legislative and financial autonomy but a full set of voting seats in Congress. "Representation is not democracy!," said Zoe Mitchell, a member of the D.C. Statehood Green Party's steering committee. "When our founding fathers and mothers protested 'Taxation Without Representation', the solution they sought was independence, not a few seats in the British Parliament. Statehood, the only fair solution to our ongoing crisis of democracy, will come when District residents refuse to tolerate these affronts to our citizenship and constitutional rights any longer." "D.C. democracy advocates like to say 'The capitol of the nation is the last plantation'," said Ms. Dixon. "If we only protest taxation without representation and only demand a vote or two in Congress, that's equivalent to giving one of the slaves a seat at the master's table. When we demand statehood for D.C., we're calling for the liberation of the whole plantation." Two upcoming events will highlight the movement for D.C. statehood: Wednesday, October 1: B.A.D. Day in D.C. (B.A.D. = Budget Autonomy for the District), organized by the D.C. Statehood Green Party, the Stand Up For Democracy! in D.C. Coalition, and other democracy supporters. Rally 12 noon at the Capitol South Metro Station, across from the GOP headquarters. http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/pr/2003/bad.php Democracy Rising "People Have The Power" Tour, featuring Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, singer Patti Smith, D.C. hip hop artists Head-Roc and Noyeek the Grizzly Bear. Originally scheduled for Thursday, September 18, postponed because of the hurricane threat, new date in early October to be announced shortly. Rally themes: D.C. statehood; health care for all; increased library and school funding; affordable housing. http://www.democracyrising.org/washington/ MORE INFORMATION The D.C. Statehood Green Party, http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org Stand Up For Democracy! in D.C. Coalition, http://www.standupfordemocracy.org Editorial: "A Voice, but No Vote" The Washington Post, Tuesday, September 9, 2003, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45008-2003Sep8.html Editorial: "In D.C., Taxation Without Representation" The New York Times, September 13, 2003, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/13/opinion/13SAT4.html |
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