Photo by daveglanz.

You know, we’re pretty bummed out about the District’s lack of voting rights, but we’d never even think about comparing our situation to what’s going on in Egypt, where people are dying, journalists are being arrested and demonstrations have drawn millions willing to drop everything for days in order to stand up for what they believe in, regardless of the danger. Of course, we don’t have to make that comparison, because Ralph Nader has already made it for us.

In a letter released through voting advocacy group D.C. Vote, Nader criticizes President Barack Obama for expressing support for democracy in the Middle East, but not for the District. “[Y]ou used little if any of your political capital or the bully pulpit and muscle to get even the most modest measure through Congress,” Nader writes. “Why not invite 100 of the exuberant, bi-lingual, peaceful Egyptian demonstrators to come to Washington, D.C. and help rally District residents in a massive gathering for their democratic rights in front of the White House at Lafayette Park?” Nader then goes further, suggesting a staggered strike in which people would go to work 30 minutes late every day, an “elevating protest” which would force people to really think about how large the “thralldom to the Congressional veto” looms over the head of the District.

Nader has been working of late with the D.C. Library Renaissance Project, and we appreciate him wanting to bring our second-class status to the forefront. It’s just — I don’t know, in a city where unemployment is hovering between nine and ten percent, I’m not sure if suggesting a protest that asks people to not show up to their jobs en masse is really going to fly.

The full letter is after the jump.