We moved to the DC area in 2009. If you see a DC license plate, you often see the phrase "Taxation without Representation" on the bottom. Many DC natives want to convert DC to a state, or amend the Constitution so they have a Senator and some Representatives. I don't blame them.
However, given the evils of politics, everyone knows how heavily slanted this voting block would be. This new state would give one party an instant advantage, so neither effort would be able to pass and we'd be stuck with part of our population having a legitimate gripe about taxation without representation.
If you're worred about how weird a 51-state flag would look, type "DC statehood" into Google and click on the Wikipedia site. There is a pretty good one on this site and it doesn't look too bad.
Here's my solution: Make DC a city in Maryland. The existing city was carved out of Maryland to begin with (and Virginia originally). Further, Maryland is already heavily slanted toward one party, so no harm would be done in the Senate. You would; however, add at least a few Representatives in the House (my guess).
The transfer would require an Act of Congress and Maryland would have to accept the land back, much like Virginia accepted it's part of DC back in 1847.
Article 1, Section 8 of the Consitution mentions a seat of Government under federal control, but doesn't mandate it. It merely allows one. I don't think this effort will have a problem Constitutionally (not that anyone pays attention to that document anymore).
I think this is the way to go, with one caveat: The National Mall area (Capitol, White House, Supreme Court, etc.) probably needs to become a National Park or something (if it's not already). I wouldn't trust the state of Maryland or the city to take care of the land itself even though these would be high revenue generating areas due to tourism.
Thoughts?
Saturday, May 15, 2010
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