Representation in Congress and Self-Government for the District of Columbia 1970 General Resolution

OBSERVING: That for seventy years the citizens of the District of Columbia enjoyed local home rule, then in the troubled period following the Civil War, Congress abolished the elected local government and since that time has exercised detailed control of the District's affairs;

NOTING: That the District of Columbia is governed by a Mayor-Commissioner and a City Council, all appointed by the President of the United States and the only elected branch of city government is the school committee; the powers of the Mayor-Commissioner and City Council are extremely limited, being far less than those customarily exercised by similar bodies in municipalities elsewhere in the United States;

FURTHER NOTING: That Congress continues to act as a super-city council for the District, a function for which it is not well suited, which serves only to divert its attention from broader national and international problems, and which has resulted in a government unresponsive to the needs and desires of the District;

AFFIRMING: That the District remains unrepresented in Congress itself, that the citizens of the District—virtually alone among the peoples under the American flag—are denied a voice in choosing the members of the legislative bodies who rule over them, in determining the national and local policies which affect their lives, and in deciding how the federal and local taxes they pay are levied and spent;

BE IT RESOLVED: That the 1970 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association urges the Congress of the United States to propose, and the States to ratify, an Amendment to the Constitution of the United State to provide for full voting representation in Congress for the citizens of the District of Columbia. The General Assembly further reaffirms its 1962 resolution urging the Congress to reinstitute democratic self-government in the District of Columbia.