Was listening to a Keven Philips lecture other the day, and in it he dropped a statistic asserting over 100,000 lawyers reside in DC. If true, ought that prove sufficient negation and counter to points presented in your graphic?
I grew up in the MD suburbs, and when I found out that DC had no representation the reason was immediately clear. I went around proposing to people that we should declare a city like Boise or Salt Lake City a federal district as well and take away their right to have real elected representatives in Congress until DC has the vote.
Oddly, people seem to think it's unimaginable -- you couldn't possibly deny those Americans their rights.
DC getting voting membership in the House and Senate would only solve one part of its colonial status: it would give DC a (tiny, but real) voice in the governing of the Republic. But there is another part, every bit as important and in some ways more so: self-government. DC does not govern itself, but rather is ruled over by the US Congress. DC must achieve self-government under the federal system, just like Maryland, Virginia, Wyoming, California, and all the other states do. To the counter-argument that you can't have the federal government as hostage to a state, I say the feds seem to have no problem with situating the Pentagon and CIA in Virginia, Fort Detrick in Maryland, etc., etc.
4 comments:
Was listening to a Keven Philips lecture other the day, and in it he dropped a statistic asserting over 100,000 lawyers reside in DC. If true, ought that prove sufficient negation and counter to points presented in your graphic?
Washington should be the largest city in Maryland.
I grew up in the MD suburbs, and when I found out that DC had no representation the reason was immediately clear.
I went around proposing to people that we should declare a city like Boise or Salt Lake City a federal district as well and take away their right to have real elected representatives in Congress until DC has the vote.
Oddly, people seem to think it's unimaginable -- you couldn't possibly deny those Americans their rights.
DC getting voting membership in the House and Senate would only solve one part of its colonial status: it would give DC a (tiny, but real) voice in the governing of the Republic. But there is another part, every bit as important and in some ways more so: self-government. DC does not govern itself, but rather is ruled over by the US Congress. DC must achieve self-government under the federal system, just like Maryland, Virginia, Wyoming, California, and all the other states do. To the counter-argument that you can't have the federal government as hostage to a state, I say the feds seem to have no problem with situating the Pentagon and CIA in Virginia, Fort Detrick in Maryland, etc., etc.
Post a Comment