DC STATEHOOD

The NY Times Online for October 6 reports on the "state" of DC statehood.  I have no desire to align myself with the overt racism of those who oppose statehood because of DC's predominantly black constituency.  But, I think statehood for a mere city is absurd, regardless of demographics.  There is no way to justify the voting clout of two US senators for a mere city.

I do agree that the people of DC have been wrongfully deprived of congressional representation.  The answer to that problem is to proceed with creating a voting congressional district for the city which has about the proper population for a district.  That would address House representation.  For the Senate, the present District of Columbia was carved out of the State of Maryland and "ceded" over to the Federal Government as was present-day Arlington County in Virginia, which was then "ceded back" to Virginia a few years later.  No constitutional amendments were adopted to effect those changes, so even though the land areas were ceded to the Federal Government, the voting rights of the residents therein could NOT have been lawfully abrogated by mere legislative/congressional act.

Many people erroneously believe that the Federal Government has exclusive JURISDICTION within the District of Columbia, so that the residents therein are no longer a part of the State of Maryland.  A close reading of the US Constitution, however, does not support this erroneous conclusion!  In any event, I would argue that the Framers were not empowered to take away precious personal voting rights, as there were Maryland residents living within the proposed District at the time of its establishment.  But, for 225 years everyone has wrongly ASSUMED that those folks and their successors are no longer within the State of Maryland, but I contend that they still are for federal voting purposes!

Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 17 of the US Constitution empowers the Congress to "exercise exclusive LEGISLATION [not "jurisdiction"] ... over such District ... as may, by Cession of particular States, ... become the Seat of the Government...."  Nevertheless, this language has been misinterpreted by one and all to deprive DC residents of their right to continue voting in Maryland's congressional elections.  Now, I think that since the Congress does have "exclusive Legislation" in the District, there is no point for DC residents voting in Maryland state elections, but those persons in DC STILL have a right to be fully represented in the legislative body (Congress) that controls them, and there is nothing in the US Constitution that says otherwise, regardless of the misinterpretations of our predecessors!

So, let's correct a 225-year-old mistake and allow the people within the District of Columbia to send a VOTING rep to the House and to vote in the Maryland US senator elections.  That is the proper solution to the legitimate issue of disenfranchisement.

(See post 3/4/09)