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Should Washington DC be a state?

Should Washington DC be the 51st State?


  • Total voters
    66
And it did happen, slavery was mostly gone or greatly diminished within the next century. Sure there was a war during the middle of all of that but, again, the world cannot change over night and it'd take a couple of generations of societal "reprogramming" to get people to accept the idea.

As I said, something like that wasn't going to change over night, especially in the situation they were in. Similar things happen today when it comes to Day Laborers and the use of illegal migrant workers it's fundamentally wrong to use a "slave labor" force like that.

Now, granted, migrant workers may not be as mis-treated as the slaves were -by any stretch- but they're highly underpaid for the work they do but it's being done and more-or-less tolerated because it's a "necessary evil" because they ARE jobs they your average citizen isn't going to take and if he does take it he's going to command a higher salary than a day laborer commands. I'm not saying it's right but as it stands it something that has to be tolerated and phased out rather than flipping the switch and ending it instantly which would bring many industries to a screeching halt.

So, sure, maybe someone does have to take that first step and not use slaves, or migrant workers, or whatever and do things the right way, then use that as a "selling point" for his product and its higher prices and start a trend that ripples through the industry over the course of years or decades but the world isn't going to change over night.

Hell even after slavery was ended nearly a century after the Constitution was signed it still took nearly another century for blacks to be treated as equals in society as far as where they could go and what they can do around the country and even today there's still hurdles but mostly in the form of individual biases and even that may still take another century of "societal reprogramming" to eliminate.
 
I think the best solution is for Maryland to absorb DC.

DC is kind of small to be it's own state. And I would imagine that the residents of DC have similar concerns to those citizens of the surrounding areas.

Plus, what are we gonna do with fifty-ONE stars on the flag? We'd have to drag in Peurto Rico, kicking and screaming, just to make the flag balance out. :p
 
^^ Because the stars represent the States.

Plus, what are we gonna do with fifty-ONE stars on the flag? We'd have to drag in Peurto Rico, kicking and screaming, just to make the flag balance out. :p
They wouldn't exactly be kicking and screaming, since the majority of them favor Statehood.
 
Why even change in the first place? Don't we as a nation have far more pressing concerns that balancing our flag.

Erm...you know those things called 'smilies'? Well, this one here: :p - it's intended to signify 'lack of seriousness'.

Please make a note of it.

Besides, I live in Georgia. The last thing on this EARTH I want is to spend another decade of my life listening to people argue about a flag.
 
Though I never mentioned Founder intent as being a reason against DC statehood.

Yeah, I was talking to Carcazoid. If you've read my posts, I'm not even suggesting DC statehood, just DC suffrage and home rule.

The Constitution is very clear about this. So Virginia and Delaware would have to consent to begin with. I just don't see a big movement outside of D.C. to do this. Is there one?

I'm not sure what Delaware has to say about it. :vulcan:

We're actually the illuminati. We control everything.

With the consent of Maryland, I could see some kind of arrangement where, for purposes of Federal elections, DCers get to vote in Maryland Senate races.

Again, purely symbolic from a balance of power standpoint.

True, but it would also have a better shot of getting voted on. But it'll help slightly because they'll at least get a voting Congressmen. The Senate races would be purely symbolic, but I figure the symbolism of letting them vote in the Maryland Senate races is better than the symbolism of not letting them vote in Senate races.
 
Why even change in the first place? Don't we as a nation have far more pressing concerns that balancing our flag.

Erm...you know those things called 'smilies'? Well, this one here: :p - it's intended to signify 'lack of seriousness'.

Please make a note of it.

Besides, I live in Georgia. The last thing on this EARTH I want is to spend another decade of my life listening to people argue about a flag.


Noted. Sorry about the living in Georgia thing.
 
The District of Colombia meets all the requirements to be a state, then have proper representation and give the residents the right to vote.

What do you think and why?

No it doesn't, because when it was created it was specifically created NOT to be a state, or in one. That's the LAW.
 
The District of Colombia meets all the requirements to be a state, then have proper representation and give the residents the right to vote.

What do you think and why?

No it doesn't, because when it was created it was specifically created NOT to be a state, or in one. That's the LAW.

However, it's possible to create a state from territory of a currently existing state (see Maine) and it's possible to give back territory from the District of Columbia to a state (see Alexandria). Therefore, it's possible to give back territory to Maryland and then immediately have this territory form a new state. I think it's stupid (since the remaining territory would still have 3 electoral votes, regardless of size), but it can be done with a simple majority in Congress. That's the law as well.
 
56 would make sense since that would include DC and all overseas territories (I think.)
Yup, exactly 56. The other territories are really under the UN and just administered by the US and I think are all now independent or pending independence; in any case, they are not really part of the US.

A slight digression, but related to States being made from other States, there's an article in the latest issue of History Channel magazine about the almost-State of Franklin, which would have been formed from the Western part of North Carolina. The incident took place in the 1780s, shortly after the war. I just got it yesterday, so I haven't read it, but it looks interesting.
 
It turns out that the non-State of Franklin was the reason for the language in the Constitution prohibiting new States being formed from parts of other States, so it actually does have direct bearing on this discussion.
 
DC*, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands should all be states. Oh and Canada.

*Or reincorporated into Maryland.
 
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