National Activist Makes Case for DC Statehood in Rhode Island
Monday, November 25, 2019
Elinor Hart, who is a leading activist in the effort to make Washington, D.C. a state, appeared on GoLocal LIVE in her recent appearance in Rhode Island.
"I’m tired of being a second class citizen — you know people in DC don’t have the rights that people in Rhode Island take for granted," said Hart. "We can’t vote for members of Congress -- that means we are shut out participating in national issues. Congress can do almost anything it wants with DC. It’s done some terrible things."
Hart is involved in the "DC Statehood Coalition," whose position is, "We can make the residential and commercial areas of Washington, DC the 51st state, while preserving a smaller District of Columbia (containing the Capitol, White House, Supreme Court, National Mall and other federal properties) as the Constitution requires."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"By creating the 51st state, the people who live in Washington, DC can finally enjoy the same rights that other Americans enjoy," they state. "We can do this without a Constitutional amendment, with a simple majority vote in Congress. This is how all the states since the original 13 have been admitted to the union. It is the simplest, most straightforward way to grant DC residents the same rights as other Americans."
Hart, in traveling around the country, says that she believes that progressive activists in particular should be sympathetic -- and energized -- to the DC statehood cause.
"Most of the people I talked to are fairly progressive — and DC is a very progressive city," Hart said. "We have very progressive values, and that means that we would be electing people to Congress who are progressives that would certainly be in favor of immigration reform, that would certainly be in favor of universal health care — I’m not sure we’d go for Medicare for all right away but we certainly would go for a public option."
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