A Real Capper

On March 18, 2008, The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear an appeal of District of Columbia v. Heller, which opens the 2nd Amendment can of worms, the States Rights issue, and the disenfranchisement of the U.S. citizens of the District of Columbia. I’m sure it will be very entertaining for people who are not residents of Washington and don’t have to live — or die — with the consequences.

The web is full of tiresome blather about those first two issues already, and I have no wish to add to it. How is the third issue involved?  Let me quote the late Arthur Capper, five-term Republican senator from Kansas, and twice that state’s governor:

It is apparent that Congress intended to change the political status of the District in some degree from the beginning…. If anything ever was worth fighting for it is national representation for the District of Columbia. And I am confident that finally your campaign will be victorious, as it well deserves to be. In my State, if its 2,000,000 inhabitants were told that they could have no voice in the Government which they are taxed to support, I know what would quickly happen. An army would be organized, and it would march across the plains to the Capital of the country and enforce its rights. Of course, I do not recommend for you an appeal to arms. But you must all be aggressive to secure for yourselves that which is rightfully yours.

U.S. Senator Arthur Capper, in a 1938 speech to the Columbia Historical Society (emphasis added).

Think about it.

Image by Mike Licht and the Australian Imperial Forces. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license. Credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.