Next GOP Majority Should End DC Home Rule

Over the past week, Washington D.C implemented draconian COVID-19 policies designed to force the progressive left's public health regimen on tourists and citizens.

Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a third mask mandate on Monday and followed up with vaccine passports for a host of venues on Wednesday. Residents and visitors who, for various reasons, have chosen to forgo COVID-19 vaccines will no longer be able to visit restaurants, bars, gyms, events and meeting spaces.

Starting in March, Bowser will require students to be vaccinated to attend public and private schools, effectively destroying parental choice regarding children’s healthcare.

This dramatic escalation in the District's health regime paired with skyrocketing crime highlights the need for a Republican Congressional Majority in 2023 to end the practice of "Home Rule."

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.

Following the riots, the D.C City Council voted to cut police budgets and strip officers of essential enforcement authority. Since D.C defunding the police, crime has surged to multi-decade highs.

Homicide is up 12%, motor vehicle theft 8%, and theft from auto up 5%. Arson, incidentally, is down 77% after the mostly peaceful protests of 2020 died down.

Previously safe neighborhoods have turned into hotbeds of robbery, muggings and violence. On display for the world's diplomats, public parks are now campgrounds for the mentally ill and homeless.

It's now common to see addicts shooting up drugs in the streets and troubled youth smoking in the District's transit system. Public defecation, threats from hostile vagrants, and regular reports of friends and family victimized by criminals are now par for the course.

The Mayor has attempted to shroud her dereliction of duty and abandonment of the District's most vulnerable in a veneer of compassion. But a leader who destroys small businesses, ignores crime and abandons the needy to drugs and tent cities is anything but compassionate; they're cruel.

Mayor Bowser’s comrades at the DCCC waxed endlessly about “temples of democracy” and keeping the Capitol building “sacred” but have partnered with the D.C. Democratic machine to drive the capital city into third-world status. It’s past time for Republicans to step up and respond.

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.

With the proper steps, Washington could be restored to a model city every American can be proud of and want to visit. With inaction, Washington's status as a barely decent, livable city is at risk.

American decline is a choice, and regarding the seat of our government, the time for choosing has come. Let's hope America's leaders choose wisely.