Marking Territories

And now, to answer some questions about the new Republican House:

How is the Republican majority in the House of Representatives demonstrating its desire to listen to the people?

It is demonstrating so by moving to strip the House delegates from U.S. overseas territories and the District of Columbia of their right to vote in proceedings of the House Committee of the Whole, denying the representatives of five million American citizens and the citizens themselves the right to have their voices heard in Congress.

What is the House Committee of the Whole?

The Committee of the Whole is a parliamentary device in which the House of Representatives is considered a congressional committee en masse. It needs a quorum of a bare majority to meet, and it facilitates the passage of bills to be voted on by the House. The Committee of the Whole can recommend amendments to a bill, and the House then has to approve these amendments before they're added to a final bill. A vote this committee has been the only way for territorial delegates to have a say in anything.

Why would the Republicans strip this committee vote from the territorial delegates?

I haven't found any logic or explanation for this rule, but I imagine that Speaker Boehner would point out that American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, along with the District of Columbia, are not states and so do not have the full rights of statehood, which include voting representation in Congress and, except for the District of Columbia, the right to vote in general presidential elections. This country, Speaker Boehner would likely tell us, is called the United States of America, not the United States and Territories of America.

But if a territorial vote on the Committee of the Whole is technically different from a vote in the House in toto, doesn't it therefore make common sense to give territorial delegates at least the committee vote?

Yes, but the Republican party defies common sense on a regular basis.

Wasn't there one state that joined the Union but then didn't have its statehood certified for 150 years?

Yes. Ohio was admitted to the Union in 1803 after four years as a territory, but Congress never passed a resolution of admission until the oversight was discovered in 1953. A new petition was then sent by Ohio to Congress for statehood, which was approved as being retroactive to 1803. Hence, from a technical standpoint, Ohio illegally sent delegates with full voting rights to both houses of Congress, chose Electoral College members who voted for President and Vice President, and helped decide all matters of national importance for a century and a half. In that same time, Ohio also participated in bicameral votes on eleven declarations of war.

What state does Speaker Boehner come from again?

Ohio.

How bad does this look in light of Boehner's insistences that he believes in openness and the voice of the people?

Worse than you may realize. At best, this rule change suggests pure partisan politics on the part of Republicans in an effort to weaken the Democrats, as the territories and the District of Columbia are overwhelmingly Democratic. At worst, it suggests racism, as the five million constituents affected by this action are mostly blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Pacific Islanders. Millions of brown people - American citizens all - have been told that their congressional delegates can't even vote on parliamentary House concerns and so have no voice of their own. People from these territories and the District of Columbia, like their delegates, are pretty much expected to be seen but not heard . . . and sometimes not even be seen.

Wouldn't it make sense to admit these territories to the Union as states? Certainly Puerto Rico, with over three million people, should receive full statehood. And why not make Washington, D.C. a state, as the cities of Bremen and Hamburg are states of Germany? Or just abolish the District of Columbia and make Washington a part of Maryland, as the Canadian capital of Ottawa is a part of the province of Ontario, if the idea of two permanent Democratic Senate seats bothers people? Why not do any of that?

You're so cute. I wish I could look at you through a Webcam right now.

What was the main beef of the Tea Party activists responsible for this Republican House majority in the 112th Congress?

It was that congressional representatives should be more accountable to the people.

This is ironic, no?

This is ironic, no is right. What this is is hypocritical.