Topic: Newsmax
Home Rule is a legislative carveout granted to the District of Columbia that allows the city to govern itself by electing a city government with a mayor, city council, and various bureaucratic agencies. Congress first granted D.C Home Rule in 1973, devolving their constitutionally outlined power to govern D.C to the residents of Washington.
Since 1973, Home Rule has been an unmitigated disaster that has subjected the capital to crises of crime, corruption, and unhinged progressive activism. Though in steep competition with crack-smoking crook Marion Barry for distinction as worst mayor, Muriel Bowser's administration may soon surpass all prior D.C infamy.
Mayor Bowser began in 2020 by forcing the city into some of the strictest lockdowns in the nation, not fully re-opening D.C's businesses until this past summer. The result was catastrophe.
Hundreds of businesses permanently closed, and with it came the destruction to incomes, lives, and community that always accompanies the collapse of small businesses.
She followed up by subjecting the city to lawlessness in the wake of George Floyd's death, permitting Black Lives Matter to riot, loot, and burn. Rather than restore order, she used tax dollars to plaster "Black Lives Matter" on the street in front of the White House, grossly abusing her powers to play race politics in the heat of the 2020 election.
If the American people want to visit the White House today, they're forced to walk over gigantic, ugly yellow neo-Marxist propaganda. So much for the so-called people's capital.
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If Republicans win the House back in 2022, they should restore dignity to the capital by ending the Home Rule charade. The chaos must end, and the only way is for Congress to strip the Mayor and City Council of their abused authority.
Stripping the city council and Mayor Bowser’s authority is well within congressional rights. The Constitution plainly states the power to govern D.C is Congress’s, and the District’s charter makes plain that Home Rule is a privilege.
A Republican House could clean up the streets by instating camping bans and offering the homeless and mentally ill the help they need and deserve. They could drastically reduce crime rates by fully funding the police and giving them the authority to enforce the law.
Republicans could save communities by ending COVID-19 restrictions and empowering citizens to make their own choices. Most importantly, they could restore the nation's capital to constitutionally intended governance and end Mayor Bowser's humiliation of the country.
-- Collin Pruett, Dec. 28 Newsmax column
