So you don't care much about local issues in Washington, D.C.?
That's the point.
Americans have governing control of a place they don't know or care about.
It is the opposite of self government. Our founders had a word for it: "Tyranny."
The District of Columbia has a population of 713,000. That is a bit fewer than North Dakota, and more than Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming. It is a coherent political entity, but it won't be allowed to become a state for the same reason that for 200 years states have been created or blocked: Votes in the U.S. Senate. The creation of Maine, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, California, and Oregon were all about the Senate count, and that mattered because it determined the status and power of Black Americans. That hasn't changed.
You and I, via our elected Senators and Representatives, have oversight and veto power over the District and its people. Too bad? How would you feel if Marjorie Taylor Green had power over your community, and you had no say in the matter? If that sounds OK, then how would you like it if Ilhan Omar did? Still don't care that much? It's their problem, not yours?
Again, that is my point. The rest of American has power over people and issues we don't know or care much about. That is wrong. It's un-American.
Jack Mullen grew up in Medford and worked beside me thinning pears in local orchards. He graduated from the University of Oregon and worked in the Peace Corps. We worked together again as Aides for U.S. Representative Jim Weaver. He had a long career in newspaper publishing. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Guest Post by Jack Mullen
Jack Mullen
When Peter asked that I, as a resident in our nation’s capital, provide an inside-the-Beltway observation on just what Washingtonians are thinking, I harkened him back to Tip O’Neil’s famous observation that holds in Washington as anyplace else: “All politics are local”.
Unlikely as it may seem to those outside of Washington, D.C. locals view politics the same as anywhere: One eye on national politics, the other on local issues. As of late, our ability to govern ourselves is once again put into question.
I am from Medford Oregon, and I seldom hesitate to mention my allegiance to my home state, especially to older Washington, D.C. African Americans. When they hear the mention of Oregon, the likely response is not about Duck football, but about Wayne Morse. Seems here in Washington, the late Senator is revered more for his efforts to provide citizens Home Rule to govern themselves, than for his stance on the Vietnam War.
Wayne Morse left the Republican Party and declared himself an Independent in 1952. Republican leadership, as punishment, banished him to the lowly District of Columbia Committee. The 1952 Senate leaders had no idea the value of what they just gifted the City of Washington, D.C., the “Tiger of the Senate”. Six times, Wayne Morse’s Home Rule Bill passed the Senate only to die in the House District of Columbia Committee. Undaunted, Morse focused his committee on normal local issues ranging from public health and public works to education, where he established the University of D.C. Community College for local residents.
Congress passed Home Rule in 1973, five years after Robert Packwood defeated Morse in 1968. At last, the nation’s capital was able to elect a Mayor and City Council. Congress still possessed Constitutional oversight over Washington.
Shortly after moving to Washington, my wife and I became acutely aware of Congressional oversight of our new hometown when a Utah Congressman, Jason Chaffetz, called a special hearing on D.C.’s new Assisted Suicide Law, a version of Oregon's trail-blazing law. Who knew at the time that Chaffetz’s Committee previewed today’s cultural wars? Unlike today, not all Republicans on Chaffetz’ committee were in lock-step. Representative Darrell Issa of California voted against repealing D.C.’s Assisted Suicide Law. Would the 2023 Darrell Issa, who last week, upon hearing of Trump’s indictment, suggested vengeance when he put out “Hunter Biden: Call your Lawyers!!”, vote the same on Assisted Suicide as the Darrell Issa of 2017? I have my doubts.
President Biden wisely is not commenting on Trump’s indictment. D.C. residents wished he had not commented on the D.C. Crime Bill revision. He only opened the flood gates for the Oversight Committee to grill local D.C. Council members on matters such as public urination (Loren Boebert R-Colorado), establishing bike lanes in D.C. (Virginia Fox (R-NC), naming of Black Lives Matter Plaza (Paul Gosar R-Nevada).
James Comer of Kentucky is Chair of this House Oversight Committee. Friends and acquaintances of mine here in Washington know very little about James Comer. I would suggest James Comer knows very little and cares even less about the lives of those of us who live in D.C.
Now I ask: Why can’t we in Washington rule ourselves like people in James Comer’s Kentucky or Lauren Boebert’s Colorado?
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7 comments:
Why indeed? Republicans are loathe to accept a likely blue state, especially one that is nearly 50% African American, though it kind of makes the "taxation without representation" argument sound a bit hollow. Statehood for Puerto Rico would follow as well, and so on...maybe even Mexico, which actually is a better idea IMO.
The District of Columbia is just over 68 square miles. By comparison, Rhode Island, the smallest state in the country, is approximately 1,212 square miles. So it would become the smallest state, more of a city state which isn't a great precedent. I wouldn't want to go by population. Next thing you know Manhattan (1.6m) might get ideas, or LA (3.8m), or Monowi (1).
Seriously, probably ain't gonna happen. Even if it got through Congress, ratification would be a nightmare. So it's just another f***up by the founders.
What were they thinking?
The Jan. 6 insurrection and all the surrounding events since couldn’t have made it more obvious that pollical parties in the U.S., particularly the Republican Party, care far less about democracy than they do about money and power.
It is not fair at all that states with small populations (Vermont, Wyoming) have the same number of Senators as states with large populations (California, Texas, New York).
The number of Senators should be based on "population tiers," with a minimum of one Senator per state. Senators would still be elected statewide.
I don't think Washington DC should be a state. It is different, it is special. Residents can relocate to one of the surrounding states if they
don't like the way DC is governed. And certainly don't move there if you don't want that form of government.
If memory serves, the District of Columbia, carved out of Maryland, was chosen for the national capitol for the express reason that no one wanted to live there year-round including the slaves brought in to build it. Electricity and creature comforts like air conditioning turned what was a humid summertime swamp into what we see now as our nations capital. I am convinced the framers choice was a deliberate compromise. An attempt to minimize Federalism as the thirteen colony states desired to maintain autonomy within their own boundaries; as slavery remained a contentious issue threatening to destroy the notion of a United States of America. As a special case, Washington D.C. is maintained as if it were a plantation and the residents there are still slaves. Self rule and governance is allowed but overseen by Congress, echos treatment under a benevolent master. More deserving of statehood is Puerto Rico.
A bipartisan solution: give the non-federal parts of DC back to Maryland, and let it become a city in that state with all of the usual self-rule rights.
What will never fly is making DC a new state. No Republican will vote to add two new Democratic senators.
By the time Trump and his sycophants are done with the party, it won't matter what Republicans want.
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