Non-D.C. Residents--download this page and address it to your elected representatives in Congress. You can find your Representative's address here (or get their e-mail) and your Senator's address here (or their e-mail). Let your representatives in Washington know that you agree - the people of the nation's capital are entitled to democratic rights!

D.C. Residents--send this page to friends and relatives who live outside D.C.

__________________, 2004

The Honorable
U.S. House of Representatives/United States Senate
______ House/Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515 [House]/20510 [Senate]

Dear Representative/Senator:

I write you today, as both a resident of STATE and as a Christian, concerning a very important moral issue that needs to be addressed. The 500,000 American citizens who reside in Washington, D.C. are denied the same representation in Congress provided to every other U.S. citizen. I strongly urge you to take reasonable actions to correct this egregious moral wrong.

I am angered that the American citizens who reside in Washington, D.C. must pay federal income taxes, but are not represented in the U.S. Congress, which passes tax legislation and decides how to spend Americans' taxes. The rallying cry of the American revolution was "no taxation without representation," yet over half a million American citizens are required to pay taxes to the federal government, but cannot elect voting representatives to Congress. In fact, the American citizens who reside in Washington, D.C. pay a higher proportion of their income in taxes than any other Americans.

I am outraged that the young American men who reside in Washington, D.C. must register for selective service and are eligible to be drafted for military service, but are not represented in the U.S. Congress which enacts drafts and orders them to war. In fact, more D.C. residents, proportionately, have fought in U.S. wars than the residents of any state have.

While I understand that Congress has the Constitutional authority and responsibility for the District, I believe it is wrong for the U.S. Congress to exercise control over local affairs of the American citizens who reside in Washington, D.C., without giving those citizens a vote in the process. There must be a way to protect the national interest in the capital city and to provide democracy to the half million American citizens who live there.

This is no small matter. I believe as a matter of faith that our religious traditions demand equity and justice. I believe that so long as one person's voice is not heard, this value is not met. Further, so long as we keep the citizens of our capital city disenfranchised, we are guilty of both the immorality of this situation and of hypocrisy&emdash;for we preach democracy everywhere in the world except in the backyard of the Capitol.

Please correct this inequity. There are four possible solutions which would provide the residents of Washington, D.C. with full representation in Congress. They are: (1) make D.C a state, (2) retrocede D.C. to the State of Maryland (from which it was ceded in 1790), (3) treat D.C. residents as if they were residents of the State of Maryland for purposes of representation, or (4) direct statutory enfranchisement (treat D.C. as if it were a state).

I urge you to think seriously about this issue and to take action. Thank you for your time and for giving considering to this important matter.

Sincerely,