They foist pet projects on citizens who are perfectly capable of deciding these issues locally. They prevent the district from taxing income where it is earned. Unaccountable power is destructive. It chokes the ability and destroys the responsibility of people to govern themselves. It just doesn't happen.
People stop participating.
They don't run for local offices. The civic culture of the community withers away. President Clinton has often objected to Congress's arbitrary use of its colonial power over the district. Last September he wrote a veto message chiding Congress for attempting to block district decisions that he correctly argued were local matters in the areas of advocating statehood, access to special education, abortion, and drug policy, among other issues. But he has not publicly followed his argument to its logical conclusion and called for full local control and self-determination.