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We who live in the District have grown used to the big foot of the federal government in our affairs, but lately it seems that the boot has been finding our collective groin with increasing accuracy.

Just as Alice Rivlin, Camille Barnett and other smiley-faced leaders of the occupation forces utter soothing words about a return to home rule, their masters in Congress undercut them with actions that show that they still consider D.C. their personal plantation. Whatever bones they throw to Anthony Williams for not being Marion Barry, our new mayor soon will learn that the meat still belongs to the big cats on Capitol Hill.

Consider the recently enacted federal budget bill, which contained two gratuitous slaps at Congress’ host city. One provision banned local government funding for needle exchange programs. Another forbade the city from certifying Initiative 59, the ballot measure to allow seriously ill people to use marijuana for medical purposes—resulting in the anti-democratic absurdity of the citizens not knowing the outcome of their own election. (As I write this the results are still being held secret pending litigation to release them. Exit polls indicate the initiative won handily).

It could have been worse—much worse. Funding for Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) barely survived, and the city dodged another attempt by Congress to impose a voucher program that would have funneled money into private schools while the public schools continue to sink. (What good will it do for the elected school board to regain authority when there are no schools left for them to run?)

It proves wearisome to recount the outrages Congress has perpetrated against the city over the years—imposing the Control Board, stripping the school board of its powers (literally the day after a new, reform-minded board was elected) and launching the August 1997 coup which dissolved most of what remained of home rule. But these are only the most recent abuses—D.C.’s status as a colony on the American mainland stands at two centuries and counting.

Congress shoves us around because it can. It imposes social strictures on us in order to grandstand for the home districts; it imposes fiscal requirements for its own convenience. The federal government robs us with the skill of a pickpocket—for example, dumping its mental patients at the city’s St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, which, according to the Washington Post, totals close to the tune of $20 million. We used to be partially compensated for the burden of the federal presence, such as the $2 billion in property taxes lost due to non-taxable land. But now even the federal payment has been stripped away.

The repeated lie from Capitol Hill is that Congress needs to keep the reigns tight because the city cannot govern itself, mostly due to incompetence. What Republicans really object to, however, is policies originating within the city—sometimes by elected leaders, often from the people themselves—to promote fairness, equality and democracy. Say what you will about D.C.’s politics—progressive ideas have gained a greater foothold here than almost anywhere else. D.C. citizens understand that needle exchanges reduce the spread of AIDS; that marijuana, properly used, can ease the suffering of the ill; that the ANCs give citizens a greater voice in government; that the death penalty is cruel and discriminatory and fails to deter crime. It’s the citizens of the District who know how to govern themselves; it’s Congress that is incompetent.

What can we do? Not much, as long as we lack genuine home rule. I’m referring not to “home fool,” as the late Julius Hobson called the regime of the puppet mayors and council that began in the 1970s. I’m talking about statehood. We can pass initiatives, elect leaders visionary and otherwise, and fight budget battles until we’re blue in the face. At the end of the day, whatever good we accomplish can be wiped away with the stroke of a pen.

The only thing left is for us to fight for that which we do not have—genuine self-determination. Why waste our time fighting policy battles when we cannot control their outcomes? We must engage Congress in a battle to win the rights that all other taxpaying Americans have. We must use, as a wise man said, any means necessary—taking to the halls of Congress or the streets; preaching on street corners or on the Internet; rallying support not only in Anacostia and Georgetown but in the D.C. suburbs, the rest of the country and the rest of the world.

Whatever tactics we adopt, we must acknowledge that fighting the little battles is no longer enough. We must go after the big one—the right to determine our own fate. We must fight for real democracy.

Bill Mosley, recently elected an ANC commissioner in Mount Pleasant, is active in the Stand Up for Democracy in D.C coalition and DC/MD/NOVA Democratic Socialists of America. He welcomes responses to this article; e-mail him at bill.h.mosley@ost.dot.gov.

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