Mayor Adrian Fenty's
three proposals for the design of the D.C. quarter have about as much chance to be accepted by the U.S. Mint's state coins program as I have of winning simultaneous admission to the Soccer and Pet-Lovers Halls of Fame.
There's nothing objectionable about
Fenty's suggestions that the District flag or the images of Benjamin Banneker or Duke Ellington grace the obverse of the coin when it's finally Washington's turn to get our own coin. But in all three of the mayor's recommendations, those images would be accompanied by the slogan "Taxation Without Representation." And the federal government is about as likely to approve that message as Rush Limbaugh is to launch a torrid affair with Hillary Clinton.
In fact, if those three words end up on U.S. currency, I hereby promise to spend a week as the mayor's personal valet.
The slogan that has
appeared on D.C. license plates since 2000 "is evocative of the battle cries which mobilized the founding of this nation," says Fenty's filing with the U.S. Mint. But the mayor was nervous enough about how the slogan would be received by the Mint that he included with the official recommendations
a two-page memo from the Secretary of the District, Stephanie Scott, arguing that the "Taxation without Representation" phrase "defines the District of Columbia."
