On December 1, the Washington, D.C. city council unanimously approved resolution PR21-302. It says that the city will launch a public relations campaign to gain support for statehood. The resolution points out that the District of Columbia has a greater population than either Wyoming or Vermont. It says that D.C. has a greater gross domestic product (gdp) than fourteen states.
The Mayor is directed to set up a working group by January 1, 2016, that will attempt to collect 1,000,000 signatures. The petition will then be presented to Congress and to the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, both of which are set for July 2016. This implies that the city hopes to collect the 1,000,000 signatures before July 2016. Here is the wording of the Resolution, which had been introduced on July 14, 2015.
They will go with the “or else”.
Recognizing that the formula for GDP is C + I + G + (X – M) where
C is consumption
I is investment
G is government expenditures (!)
X is exports
M is imports, thus (X – M) is net exports
Because of G, I’m surprised DC isn’t within the top 5 of GDP compared with the states.
I always laugh when the MSM worries about the difference between 2% and 3% growth in GDP when all TPTB have to do to juice that number is have the gummint spend more fiat dinero.
DC can threaten “or else” all they want. They ain’t becoming a state. If they really cared about representation, they would annex the private land inside the DC boundary to Maryland. But that’s not what they care about – the progressives want two more votes in the Senate.
Better would be to assign the district back to Maryland for purposes of Congressional representation.
The Green Party in the District is officially called the “DC Statehood Green Party”.
Gene –
Oh? Why not Virginia, I wonder?
Baron,
Virginia retrocession took place on March 13, 1847. Gene is correct – It is Maryland’s turn now.
I imagine that if the Democrats control congress and the white house, DC would have a fairly good chance at being admitted as a state, as the addition of two more Democratic senators to congress would help entrench democratic control. The prospect of adding two DC senators, who almost certainly would be democrats, precludes statehood in a scenario where the republicans have control or where there is divided government.
Awwwww. This is almost cute in its naivete.
The United States is the only nation in the world that has an elected legislative body and doesn’t permit adult citizens living in its capital city to be represented there to the same extent as other adult citizens of the nation.
This characteristic of the United States is something to be deeply ashamed of. It violates several treaties we have signed over the last 70 years. I don’t know how serious the City Council is. If they were really serious, they would run full page ads in the New York Times and other influential and well-read publications. They would run public service ads on TV and radio and well-read web pages. But will they?
I also agree with Gene. If the residents of DC feel so unempowered and unrepresented then rejoin Maryland. Either the entire district of everything but the mall (which has very few residents). This is political theatre pure and simple.
I agree with Don.
Statehood is not a requirement of representation for citizens living in the District of Columbia.
The purpose of having a separate district is so that the national government would not be subject to any State government.
Persons living in other areas of similar federal jurisdiction vote in elections of the legislature and for federal representatives.
Possible solutions:
(1) Let DC residents vote in Maryland.
(2) Retrocede residential areas to Maryland.
(3) Move capital to a more central location, and retrocede entire district to Maryland. Make the mall area a national park.
Ashamed? You’ve got to be kidding, Richard. The District of Columbia was built on a swamp. Nobody was ever supposed to be a permanent resident. Elected officials are supposed to do their public service and then go home to their constituents. Obviously it’s way bigger than it needs to be. DOWNSIZE DC. Retrocession is the correct solution.
Jimbo –
4) Retrocede DC to Virginia.
5) Kiss VA goodbye to the Dems in the presidential elections
Oh, yeah…that’s why you opt for MD, you technicolor Republican tool, isn’t it?
Statehood for DC.
Baron- It is clear you do not know the history of the District of Columbia. The half that Virginia ceded has already been restored to VA. The remainder (what is modern day DC) belonged to Maryland. It has nothing to do with politics merely history.