Making Representation Happen

There are MANY ways to accomplish DC representation, but ALL must pass muster with the residents of the fifty states, and NONE depend in any way on the opinions of we DC residents. (If that isn’t close to slavery, I don’t know what IS).

But here’s a suggestion, anyway.

Since expatriate Americans are allowed to vote in the State of their last residence, why not create a similar allowance for (expatriate) DC residents? Allow them to “affiliate” with one of the states and vote there. After all, it does say “people ‘of’ the several states”, not people “residing in” the several states. This would alleviate the partisan problems of making DC a state, or retroceding it to Maryland. I could have moved from my home state to anywhere else in the WORLD (except Washington, DC) and continued voting for the last thirty-five years. And the people of DC are clearly “of” the several states, as opposed to being the people “of” the Asian steppes, or “of” the African savannah, or “of” the Argentinian pampas, or “of” the (Ant-)Arctic tundra.

Look up the definition of the word “of”.

And if you want to alleviate or mitigate an even wider disparity, allow them to affiliate only with the –smaller– states; Wyoming has two Senators for only about half a million people, whereas California has only two Senators for well over 25 million, a greater than fifty-to-one disparity.

That solution, along with a more restrictive limit on the local power of the Congress over DC (for example, make them pass exclusive legislation over DC “in all cases whatsoever” by a super-majority of both houses, if it is for such a compelling national interest!), would resolve most if not all of the objections to the present situation.

Power corrupts, and Absolute Power, “in all cases whatsoever”, corrupts absolutely. Government without Consent is Tyranny.