It's about as stupid as the original statement. and here is what DC was supposed to be. Madison in The Federalist did assume that the inhabitants “will have had their voice in the election of the government which is to exercise authority over them, as a municipal legislature for all local purposes, derived from their own suffrages, will of course be allowed them. . . .”
As irrelevant as a comparison of the 700k+ citizens of DC wanting to become a state but being told to get annexed to another state to a person moving to a new state.
I realize you are dizzy from the concept that people in DC want to become a state, to have an equal say in the government and who represents them. And don't just want to be shoved into some other state. But apparently your desire to not have two senators that may have different partisan beliefs is just too scary. Even though DC statehood was at one time a plank in the republican party platform. And even though it was supported at one time by the most recent republican president. But hey, suppressing voters is the current theme for republicans...
I think the current situation for the residents of DC is pretty bad. I would be fine with DC becoming a state or being part of Maryland if that also meant that there is US Congressional District for DC. I would leave it up to the residents of DC to decide which they would prefer or if they prefer the status quo. As others have noted the size of the federal district can change.
I don't remember if there is a separate thread for Puerto Rican Statehood but as I'm too lazy to look for it right now will say they definitely should be a state. Hurricane Maria and recent earthquakes there make it very clear that they are underserved without having Congressional representation.
Lest ye forget, Scump took care of Puerto Rico. "Very few deaths. Low deaths. Puerto Ricans were calling me on the phone crying, so happy. 'Mister President, thanks to you, my husband has paper towels. You threw them to him.' That's what a woman told me. Actually spoke English. They might be a bunch of Mexicans, kind of, but I helped them. But so many, no gratitude. Where's the gratitude?"
Agreed, but for the same reasons the people here that oppose DC becoming a state will oppose PR becoming a state.
No, I don't think I do. Maybe you're suggesting Dakotans are over-represented? Whatever it is, we can't fix Senatorial mistakes of the past by making more mistakes in the present. I explained the House/Senate thing a half-dozen posts back. Though you should know it from civics class. What is different about Wyoming and Vermont is that they are fait accompli. They have an absurd amount of representation, but we're not going to strip their statehood now. That makes them no different from everyone else in the country. Within 6 years, they'll have senators solicit their votes. Did you complain when you turned 18 that you had a pair of senators you didn't have an opportunity to vote for? 3 million people move to a new state every year. Creating a state or being annexed by a state are both choices too. We don't actually have to change anything at all. Actually, I completely support making Puerto Rico a state. They aren't specifically excluded by the Constitution like DC. They have clear territorial integrity. They have a distinct culture and history (lol, by the way, to the suggestion that DC's heritage is somehow distinct from its' immediate neighbors). They have sufficient physical size and sufficient population.
i voted for both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and I voted for neither Ronald Reagan nor Donald Trump. i am not, and have never been, a republican.
(1), I guess I haven't been clear enough... they want their own senators, from their own state. In six years they would then be having to vote for or against Maryland's senators. Senators that don't live in their area. Don't have the same interests or concerns that they have in DC. (2) DC citizens are not moving... they simply want their own state. They don't want to be shoved into another state. But... since you think the main argument against DC statehood is size and giving too much power to a small state... how about the idea of merging DC and MD and merging Wyoming and South Dakota. WY and SD are very similar and creates a larger state. Now... I know, people in SD and WY wouldn't want to be crammed together... but when did we start worrying about how citizens feel about something like that?
No you did not explain you just hand waved it away. What does civics have to do with this, in civics it's taught that its up to congress to form a state and still half of congress is based on population so it has something to do with representation. What does Wyoming and Vermont being a fait accompli have to do with anything did we get and amendment that says no other states can be formed? Nobody is advocating for Wyoming and Vermont to have there statehood striped we are just asking why do the people of DC have no representation like those states do since they have about the same population.
Alaska wasn't part of Washington that was donated to the Federal government and now wants to be a separate state from Washington. Hawaii wasn't a California island like Catalina. All of those were new land being added to the existing country. I have never heard someone suggesting Puerto Rico become part of Florida, if it is admitted, it will be its own state. Washington, DC. is a unique creature in that it was originally part of Maryland (Virginia already got back the part they donated).
I'd give it back to Maryland. Remake the US into 30 states with about 10 million each, merging states with less than 5 million and splitting states with more than 15 million.
The treaty to admit the Republic of Texas to the United States allows Texas to divide itself into as many a 5 separate states. Just thought I’d throw that out there for fun. Puerto Rico should definitely become a state if a majority votes for it in a referendum. So far, to my knowledge, that hasn’t happened. The vote always gets split 3 ways between the status quo, which sucks to the Max, independence, and statehood. Statehood is easily the best option, in my opinion. They need a tremendous amount of help from the federal government in Washington and clearly won’t get it unless they become a state. The way things are now, the island is treated like crap. It’s an embarrassment to the country. We should be ashamed. Instead, our country seems to look the other way. It’s a travesty, one that reached a pinnacle with the fiasco presided over by trump. D.C.? They would be a tiny state, but we have a few. I’m for it if they are, but the odds of pulling that off are slim to none, in my opinion.
