here they are. With the District of Columbia’s new quarter coin set to debut in 2009, the District Government today submitted three design proposals to the United States Mint. All three proposals contain the words “Taxation Without Representation,” to reflect the District’s lack of congressional voting rights. “The new quarter will teach people across the country about our city and its history,” said Mayor Fenty. “It’s my hope that those who don’t know about our disenfranchisement will soon learn about it when they’re paying a toll or buying a soda.” The three quarter narratives depict the “Stars and Bars” of the District flag, which originated from the Washington family crest some 600 years ago; astronomer and mathematician Benjamin Banneker; and world-renowned musician Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington.
I'm not convinced that circulating coinage is the place to tout political aspirations, and I strongly suspect that the powers that be won't go along with it. Besides, with all the reports of people not wanting to accept various coins, I really wonder how many people read and pay attention to the legends on our coins.
The reverse of a US coin is not the place to stage a political protest. The DC should depict the US Capitol, Arlington Cemetary. The Mall. The Smithsonian. The Washington Monument. Something that people can look at and recognize as DC.
Um, that's not going to go anywhere lol... I think they know that too, and are just making a meaningless symbolic gesture. Likely they'll just approve one of them and leave the "Taxation without Representation" off. In 2004 one of DC's electoral delegates withheld her vote in protest of this same kind of thing... You hear this sort of whining every so often but it's never ended up going anywhere or receiving significant attention. DC does have a non-voting representative in the House of Representatives. They're also assigned 3 electoral votes in presidential elections (even though they don't actually have representatives or senators.) The only way they can possibly get representation equal to that of a state is by Constitutional amendment. They want to go that route, good luck to them. (Be a very hard sell; there's reasons why the District of Columbia has never had that level of representation, not the least of which is they didn't want any state to get favorable treatment for being the location of the nation's capital; why the District of Columbia was formed in the first place in fact!) Any other protests are pretty much meaningless because they can't get what they're asking for legislatively. Agree with you there, except for Arlington; that's entirely in the state of Virginia and shouldn't be on a DC quarter.
My bad. I need to brush up on my geography a bit. The last time I was at Arlington Cemetery was in 1971. Audie Murphy's grave was still fresh.
Better check your map Hobo ...Arlington Cemetary is NOT in DC. It's in Arlington, Virginia. You got all of the other ones right though. Congrats !!!!
It almost seems as if that is the official DC motto...I remember form my time at Walter reed that it was on all of the DC license plates, the metro, busses and stuff..... It may be a political statement, but it is also the trademark motto of DC for as long back as I remember
Well this did not take long...... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/27/AR2008022703445.html?hpid=sec-metro Come on folks..... play nice and put a nice capitol dome on it and be happy.
how about a reverse with the former mayor marion barry smoking crack???? after all they did reelect the guy AFTER going to prison for 6 months. lets show DC for what it really is, the only place in america where you can smoke crack AND still have a chance at being mayor.
Not true. Flint, Michigan with former Woodrow Stanley, whose Cadillac was used in drug buys, and a possible drive by shooting would be another. Who says crime doesn't pay? Heck, it buys drugs and a mayoral race.
So they're disapointed that the Mint did exactly what they expected them to do? Um, by their own admission, that's exactly what they expected. In other words, they basically admitted it was a meaningless symbolic gesture. "Justitia omnibus" (Justice for all), the city's motto, would be appropriate, and if they want to believe that's a way to sneak in their message, go ahead and let them believe that lol... would seem a reasonable compromise.
I disagree. E PLURIBUS UNUM, IN GOD WE TRUST, and especially LIBERTY are [or at least once were] political aspirations. Many hard times tokens and civil war tokens also contain political aspirations, although they were not official mint coinage. Paper currency is covered with words and pictures that depict aspirations too.
