Election Law

John Oliver Takes On Voter Disenfranchisement

Oliver talks about the bizarre legal quandary of Washington, D.C.

More than 650,000 American citizens have no representation in Congress, and John Oliver is pissed off about it:

They pay federal taxes, and fight in wars, and yet have no member of Congress who’s able to vote on their behalf, even though their population is larger than Vermont and Wyoming, and their gross domestic product is higher than that of 16 states.

Of course, Oliver is talking about the bizarre legal quandary of Washington, D.C. Residents of the District are without a state, and so their legal status is… unique. Despite not having a voting representative in Congress (though Eleanor Holmes Norton does give ’em hell) they are subject to the whims of Congress and repeatedly treated in a patronizing, paternalistic way more reminiscent of a rebellious child than a population of Americans.

As per usual with Oliver’s rants, the clip calls out the hypocrisy and lunacy of the status quo while making us laugh.