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Rep. Congressman Jason Chaffetz on D.C. voting rights.; I like this guy.
Topic Started: Sep 5 2011, 09:56 PM (307 Views)
Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/gene-weingarten-gene-vs-the-gop-on-dc-voting-rights/2011/07/29/gIQAt2eGOJ_story.html

Gene Weingarten: Gene vs. the GOP on D.C. voting

Were you as appalled as I was by the political incivility and name-calling in Congress over the recent debt-limit crisis? Today, to prove it is possible to transcend partisan differences and actually get something done between political adversaries, I intend to engage — in an open, respectful and constructive way — one of the most evil monsters on the planet.

All you need to know is that I live in Washington, D.C., the only part of the country that has no vote in Congress. (In a wonderful bit of municipal subversion, the slogan on our license plates is “Taxation Without Representation.”) All efforts to rectify this grievous injustice have been stymied by congressional Republicans, who don’t like Washington because it is heavily Democratic. The more staunchly Republican the legislator, the more he resists. I am talking with congressman Jason Chaffetz (RRRRRR-Utah).

Me: You are one of the most outspoken opponents of legislation to give D.C. residents a vote in Congress. I think it would be fair to say that if the D.C. voting rights bill were a rabbit, you would be Elmer Fudd.

Jason: Except I wouldn’t miss.

Me: My first question is — to establish that you are not a humorless buzz-kill bureaucrat — could you succinctly express your opposition to a D.C. voting rights bill in the voice of Elmer Fudd?

Jason: It’s not a state!

Me: That’s not in Elmer Fudd’s voice!

Jason:

Me: Okay, you won’t fall for that twap. Many conservatives say that they might be in favor of D.C. residents having a vote but that it would take a constitutional amendment.

Jason: Yes, I believe the Constitution is crystal clear on that point.

Me: Aren’t there times when an injustice is so great you have to throw out the rules? Let’s say a man crawls up to a fancy restaurant, dying of starvation. As the maitre d’, would you turn him away because the rules require a jacket and tie?

Jason: Can the restaurant be Five Guys? I like Five Guys.

Me: So the answer is yes?

Jason:

Me: Isn’t saying that you are for D.C. voting rights but only after amending the Constitution kind of like saying you are for the right to bear arms only if you make the gun yourself out of pipe cleaners and mud? Constitutional amendments are hard and painful to get passed, like a kidney stone. We spent 10 years and couldn’t get one that merely said women were as good as men.

Jason: It’s possible to get a constitutional amendment passed. We’re going to vote on one today on a balanced budget.

Me: That’s not going to pass, either!

Jason:

Me: I just realized that the “mud and pipe cleaner” thing actually is my stance on the right to bear arms. You’re an arms guy, right?

Jason: I have a Glock 23 and a concealed weapons permit.

Me: Maybe we can show the world that a liberal and a conservative can come together for the common good. Would you support D.C. voting rights if, in return, every citizen of Utah is issued a bazooka?

Jason: Nah, in Utah bazookas are already mandatory. We have ’em in our schools and churches.

Me: Okay, how about if D.C. gets the vote, but the only polling place is in the fancy
French restaurant Citronelle, and you need a reservation?

Jason: Can we make it Five Guys? I like Five Guys.

Me: How about if Democratic votes only count for three-fifths of Republican votes?

Jason: We sort of already have that system. In Utah. What I really think should happen is retrocession. Maryland takes back the District of Columbia. Then you would have two senators, representatives and a governor.

Me: I can see how you’d like that. A Democratic state becomes more Democratic. Doesn’t shift any balance.

Jason: Okay, how about if Nevada takes the District?

Me: We’re never going to agree on this, are we?

Jason: I like Five Guys.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
'I like Five Guys' as a pat answer. It's a nice way of saying 'Hey, you're a colossal dumbass, but I don't want to say that'. :lol2:
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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The 89th Key
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Ha - awesome. :thumb:

This is the same guy who slept in his office.

Quote:
 
It's a recession version of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Rep. Jason Chaffetz, representing Utah's 3rd congressional district, promises to vote like a fiscal conservative and to live like one.

Instead of renting a Washington, D.C., apartment, the Utah Republican plans to live in his Capitol Hill office to save money, while his family stays in their home in Alpine, Utah.

"You work hard into the night and then the last thing I want to do is spend $1,500 a month on a place I don't intend to be and a place I just plan to sleep at," said the freshman congressman.

Chaffetz arrived in Washington this week, with his son Max, who helped unpack the car. Among his possessions is a cot, wrapped in a trash bag and duct tape, which Chaffetz plans to set up in his office. Total cost: $45.

"I'm trying to live the example that it doesn't take big dollars in order to get where we want to go," Chaffetz said. "I can save my family $1,500 a month by sleeping on a cot in my office as opposed to getting a fancy place that's maybe a little bit more comfortable."

Having an office double as his residence has a few perks. The commute is short and the rent is cheap -- free to be exact. But the quarters in his office in the Longworth building are tight.

"I've got about an inch-and-a-half, two inches on that side of the cot," he said. "I can sleep in a closet. I don't care."



Posted Image

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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
I like both guys, and Five Guys. And I really like the retrocession idea. Wonder why that hasn't happened?
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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brenda
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..............
Mikhailoh
Sep 6 2011, 03:14 AM
'I like Five Guys' as a pat answer. It's a nice way of saying 'Hey, you're a colossal dumbass, but I don't want to say that'. :lol2:
I see a new meme. :lol2:
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Because the capitol isn't and shouldn't be a part of any state of the union, nor should it get official voting representation in Congress. It has nothing to do with whether it's R or D, and has everything to do with undue influence. The city already gets unbelievable considerations.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Luke's Dad
Sep 6 2011, 10:21 AM
Because the capitol isn't and shouldn't be a part of any state of the union, nor should it get official voting representation in Congress. It has nothing to do with whether it's R or D, and has everything to do with undue influence. The city already gets unbelievable considerations.
Practically every other nation with representative democracy manages to include the capital into a state or province where the citizens gets to elect a representative who gets a vote like any other representative. Yet you're saying Americans cannot manage that?

It's just one of those legacy that makes no sense, but we live with it anyway because of inertia.
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VPG
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Pisa-Carp
When last I looked no one was holding a gun to the head of any of the people living in D C. They are free to move to any other city in any other state and vote as many times as it is legal.
Our law say's something that about 3% of the population disagrees with. So it should be changed? Nah!
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
VPG
Sep 6 2011, 10:50 AM
When last I looked no one was holding a gun to the head of any of the people living in D C. They are free to move to any other city in any other state and vote as many times as it is legal.
Our law say's something that about 3% of the population disagrees with. So it should be changed? Nah!
No body was holding a gun to the head of the founding fathers telling them they had to live in North America. They decided to rebel anyway over the "no taxation without representation" battle cry and today we thank them for it.

Bet they were less 3% of the British subjects, too.
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The 89th Key
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Luke's Dad
Sep 6 2011, 10:21 AM
The city already gets unbelievable considerations.
Money received by the Federal Government per dollar paid in. Top ten list:

1. D.C. ($6.17)
2. North Dakota ($2.03)
3. New Mexico ($1.89)
4. Mississippi ($1.84)
5. Alaska ($1.82)
6. West Virginia ($1.74)
7. Montana ($1.64)
8. Alabama ($1.61)
9. South Dakota ($1.59)
10. Arkansas ($1.53)
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
Luke's Dad
Sep 6 2011, 10:21 AM
Because the capitol isn't and shouldn't be a part of any state of the union, nor should it get official voting representation in Congress. It has nothing to do with whether it's R or D, and has everything to do with undue influence. The city already gets unbelievable considerations.
Seems to me that every citizen should have representation. How do you see undue influence manifesting itself if all the citizens of Washington, D.C. were suddenly rep'd by the Congress critters from Maryland?
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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JBryan
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I am the grey one
Axtremus
Sep 6 2011, 10:37 AM
Luke's Dad
Sep 6 2011, 10:21 AM
Because the capitol isn't and shouldn't be a part of any state of the union, nor should it get official voting representation in Congress. It has nothing to do with whether it's R or D, and has everything to do with undue influence. The city already gets unbelievable considerations.
Practically every other nation with representative democracy manages to include the capital into a state or province where the citizens gets to elect a representative who gets a vote like any other representative. Yet you're saying Americans cannot manage that?

It's just one of those legacy that makes no sense, but we live with it anyway because of inertia.
Just because [insert any country you want] does it does not mean we should do it.
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
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Copper
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Shortstop
Axtremus
Sep 6 2011, 10:37 AM
Luke's Dad
Sep 6 2011, 10:21 AM
Because the capitol isn't and shouldn't be a part of any state of the union, nor should it get official voting representation in Congress. It has nothing to do with whether it's R or D, and has everything to do with undue influence. The city already gets unbelievable considerations.
Practically every other nation with representative democracy manages to include the capital into a state or province where the citizens gets to elect a representative who gets a vote like any other representative. Yet you're saying Americans cannot manage that?

It's just one of those legacy that makes no sense, but we live with it anyway because of inertia.

You should investigate the reasons for doing it in the first place.

Just to see if what you said makes any sense.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Kincaid
Sep 6 2011, 01:57 PM
Luke's Dad
Sep 6 2011, 10:21 AM
Because the capitol isn't and shouldn't be a part of any state of the union, nor should it get official voting representation in Congress. It has nothing to do with whether it's R or D, and has everything to do with undue influence. The city already gets unbelievable considerations.
Seems to me that every citizen should have representation. How do you see undue influence manifesting itself if all the citizens of Washington, D.C. were suddenly rep'd by the Congress critters from Maryland?
Then Maryland suddenly holds undue influence above and beyond other states.

The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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