Washington D.C. set to become the 51st State...vote on Friday

[Tahuyaman]

It's not to happen. It's just another liberal stunt.

[Green Arrow]

No taxation without representation. If you didn’t want D.C. to become a state, you shouldn’t have let people live there.

Make the National Mall a separate entity and the rest of D.C. state 51.

[RichardMZhlubb]

I question the constitutionality of that, as per Article I, Section 8, Clause 17.

That can easily be satisfied by leaving a small District that includes only a few nonresidential federal buildings.

[RichardMZhlubb]

It's not to happen. It's just another liberal stunt.

Thank you for acknowledging that giving US citizens the right to representation is a “liberal” idea.

[MMC]

No need to make DC into a state. While the snowflakes yell out No Taxation without representation.


Give then what they don't want. Exempt DC from paying Federal taxes. Problem solved.


This will definitely benefit Repubs. Since DC would be like Puerto Rico and Guam. Which means then the snowflakes can't vote in federal elections.


Furthermore, the political dynamics puts this idea directly in the conservatives' sweet spot. Conservatives could hardly be charged with indifference to the plight of nonvoting District residents, and leftists would be faced with a stark choice: Either defend the taxation of District residents (including the large percentage who are poor) or accede to a policy that will demonstrate, once and for all, the economic benefits of lower taxes.


Exempting them would revitalize the district and at the same time would put the Deviates into a no win situation.

[Tahuyaman]

Thank you for acknowledging that giving US citizens the right to representation is a “liberal” idea.

They are represented. DC is the most represented district in the US.

[Dr. Who]

Article One Section 8:

"The Congress shall have power [...]:


To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;"


Having the power to do something, doesn't mean that it has to do that thing. There is no reason why the seat of federal government can't be in any given state - the land that government buildings occupy simply become federal property. There really is no longer any need for the District of Columbia to exist at all. Rather than make a new state, just give DC back to Maryland and Virginia.

[Peter1469]

You say that like it's a bad thing. It's about time the hundreds of thousands of US citizens living in the District get actual representation in Congress.

Let them become part of Maryland. Like what happened with Virginia.

[Peter1469]

No taxation without representation. If you didn’t want D.C. to become a state, you shouldn’t have let people live there.

Make the National Mall a separate entity and the rest of D.C. state 51.

Why? That land came from Maryland. Give it back.

District of Columbia retrocession


District of Columbia retrocession is the process of returning to the U.S. states of Virginia and/or Maryland the land that had been ceded to the federal government of the United States for the purpose of creating its federal district for the new national capital of the United States, the City of Washington. The land was ceded in 1790. The Virginia portion was returned, after many stages of federal and state approval, in March 1847. The Maryland portion still constitutes the District of Columbia, but some have proposed retroceding it back, in part or in whole, to address issues with the voting rights of District of Columbia residents.

[RichardMZhlubb]

Let them become part of Maryland. Like what happened with Virginia.

As I pointed out the last time this issue came up, allowing the District to become part of Maryland just makes the underrepresentation of Democratic voters in the Senate even worse. Democratic senators represent a majority of Americans, but have only 47 seats in the Senate. Adding two more Democratic senators helps to fix that problem. Just increasing the number of voters represented by the existing Maryland senators does not.