Washington Post Opinion July 06, 2012
By Ralph Nader
On Monday, staffers from 10 local and national civic groups will protest the colonial status of the District. They will engage in a limited general strike for statehood by arriving at work 15 minutes late, followed by longer work stoppages — 30, 45 and 60 minutes late on Aug. 1, Sept. 10 and Oct. 1, respectively.
This pilot project seems very modest when compared with previous protests by the steady but small hard-core proponents of full democracy for the District, whose residents have no vote in Congress. These advocates have petitioned, marched, lobbied, picketed, rallied, litigated and conducted many meetings with the powers-that-be on Capitol Hill and the White House. Last year, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, a strong statehood proponent, was arrested with 41 other citizens during a protest at Congress. All, unfortunately, to no avail.