Taxation Without Representation

Last week, our little Duke Engage group gained some insight into a pretty huge problem in DC. We see it spelled out in front of us every day on the DC license tag, "Taxation without Representation." Our Duke Engage professor, Kristin Goss, invited a representative from DC Vote to dinner with us so we could learn more about DC's efforts to have a voice (DC currently has no voting representatives in Congress). To be completely honest, I never considered this much of an issue. I figured that since DC has three electoral votes, they didn't have much to complain about. Boy was I wrong.

During the dinner, Jennifer Matson, the representative from DC Vote, explained how much DC actually lacks in terms of rights. DC, without any sort of state recognition, has no voting representation in Congress. DC only has one nonvoting representative, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who serves on two committees: the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Without recognized statehood, DC also has to have its budget approved by the federal government and has thus been used as a bargaining chip in partisan politics. Not allowing DC to be a voting member of Congress essentially silences the more than half a million residents of DC. Check out this link to DC Vote's website for more information on this issue.

While listening to Jennifer speak about DC's issues, I thought about Rock the Vote and its message. People need to step out of their comfort zones and take a second to see what other problems people may have. Had Jennifer not agreed to speak with us, I would have probably continued to consider DC's lack of voting rights to be a problem but not a serious one. She personalized the issue and we got some insight into understanding why there needed to be a solution. I am very passionate about the issue of voter registration and ensuring universal voting rights, but not everyone feels the same way. Hopefully, pundits, politicians and any members of the the general public who paint the issue of a disenfranchised youth as a trivial one will step out of their comfort zones to get some insight on this troubling predicament.