Taxation without representation

Being a registered DC voter on election day is like being that kid who's not invited to the party everyone's been talking about for months. Something I just learned last night is that we elect a "Shadow Representative" and "Shadow Senator" to go harass Congress to give us the vote. That seems pretty strange to me, not to mention sad. I voted for the Republican for Senator because I thought the Man might be more likely to give us the vote if we started voting Republican.

Speaking of Republicans, I think a prime example of how parochial the DC election is is this statement in the official DC voter's guide by a Republican running for at-large member of the council:

Growing up in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, Marcus believes that playing sports and his parents sending him to a local church to participate in Boy Scouts were major factors that deterred him from the dangers of the neighborhood he lived in. As a son of a former union president Marcus developed a strong work ethic and an understanding that business and labor need balance and communication to exist.

He went on to Bowie State University where he received his B.S. in Communications and his M.A. in Human Resource Development. Academically, he received Bowie State's Scholar Athlete Award in 2001 and 2002. Currently, Marcus resides in Southeast Washington D.C. He enjoys distance running, football, and golf.

Did this guy update his college admission essay and send that in? Granted, a Republican's odds of winning office in the District would only look good to a snowball in hell, but how about a little effort?