Percentage of Americans who favor statehood for the District of Columbia, according to a recent poll:
22% Source: Washington Post, 3/24/06
posted by EAPrez @ 10:18 PM
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A realistic compromise proposal that might work:
Re-append the district back into the state of Maryland, from which it was created. Residents could then elect congressional representatives and Senators who would represent them, along with voting for the Governor of Maryland and other state offices.
This makes sense for the following reasons.
1. Precedent. Residents of Ottawa are also residents of the Province of Ontario, and are therefore represented both in Parliament and in the local Ontario government. True, the seat of the Federal government is in the district, but part of it (including the Pentagon, CIA and other government buildings) is on the Virginia side. This territory was returned to Virginia following the Civil War (partly because they thought they'd never need it and partly to compensate the state in small measure for having a third of its territory amputated during the war to form West Virginia).
2. Representation at not only the Federal, but the state level, and cost/benefit to the Federal government. The vast majority of residents in the district have no connection to the Federal government. Right now, they are not represented, and maintaining the infrastructure of the district is a Federal responsibility. Put them into Maryland, and they are represented, pay taxes to Maryland, and it is a state responsibility. The Federal Government can still retain authority for certain areas, just as they retain it for military bases and other installations (such as Camp David in Maryland) in most states. It is hard to argue against an arrangement that is already being done elsewhere.
3. Political reality. Republicans would see this as handing two more Senate seats to the Democrats with no compensation. But this is mostly politically neutral, as both Maryland Senate seats are presently Democratic, and while Maryland would gain a house seat, it is impossible to know which other state would lose one as a result, so the lost seat could just as easily be a Democratic seat as a Republican one. And if that small measure slightly favors Democrats, that is balanced by another shift which favors Republicans: Right now, Maryland plus DC = 10 + 3 = 13 electoral votes out of 538. If D.C. became part of Maryland, then it would probably have 11 electoral votes out of 535. Since Maryland is one of the bluest states in presidential elections, in any really tight 2000 type presidential election, it would wind up in the Democratic column anyway, but if DC were part of it, Republicans would need to only squeeze out 268 electoral votes elsewhere instead of 270 to elect a President.
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