Go visit D.C., and you’ll see all around you license plates that complain of taxation without representation, and today the WaPo weighs in on the subject:
WASHINGTONIANS probably could live with Republicans’ sabotaging their latest chance at congressional representation; that’s nothing new. More galling are those Republicans too gutless to admit their true position.
Well, all right. But having spent considerable time in D.C., there are some things that I’d like to know. How is it that so much of the country’s treasure is poured into D.C. and its environs? How is it that they have the only world-class subway system in the country? How did they acquire their excellent zoo? Why is the NIH in Bethesda, a short subway ride away? How did Washington become the home of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, the Folger? What exactly is the ratio of the amount of money poured into D.C. compared with what is paid into the Federal Treasury?
There is, in my experience, no more class-differentiated city in the country. Minimum wage blues? Whatever Congress may decide to institute nationwide, it ought to double in D.C., where housing cost rises outstrip the national average significantly and where the divisions between the professional monied class and the service sector are more pronounced than anywhere else in the country. If D.C. wants to renounce its advantages, by all means, give them the Federal franchise. In other words, is there some reason that the D.C. was denied the Federal franchise in the first place, Mr. WaPo editor?
BECAUSE OF TEH HYPOCRISY!
Largely Unrelated: The Size of the Rat’s Ass that I Do Not Give Is Incalculable!
Cratering (h/t Preston at Six Meat)
But…
So Democrats are wanting a new rep in Congress in exchange for a rep Utah thinks it should have gotten anyway? And how long will Utah be able to maintain its new seat? Couple years maybe…
DC was master planned and built with federal funds to be the seat of government, and was excluded from any state specifically to keep it, as a city, out of politics.
Anyone who chooses to live there knows that they don’t have a voting delegate. If you don’t like it, you can always move, right?
It’s not that big a city, so you really don’t have to move very far if it’s that important to you. I live in a place where my vote doesn’t matter in terms of the federal government. I’m over it.
Didn’t know you were an Albertan Pablo ….
Maybe we should send home the Congressmen from all the states that receive more money from the federal government than they pay in?
Only California, New York and a few other high tech states would have representatives left to vote on things.
Holy shit , Alphie’s from Alberta too !
Anyone else notice how alphoid claims he’s a “Reagan Republican” but never fails to mouth MoveOn talking points?
Well, alphie, take a look at the map here:
Where a cursory glance tells us that the amount paid in to DC is about 3x the ratio paid into the highest milking state.
Let’s also make allowance for the highway needs of low-population states, which tend to abet interstate commerce, and then factor in the tolls that are placed by other states, shall we?
Then, lets add in the carbon offsets that ought to be purchased by those states that have tolls, hmmmm?
As a DC resident, representation in Congress would be as unsatisfactory to me as it was when I resided in a deep-blue zone of Maryland. Whoever is elected is sure to suck, and hold the job for life.
But what really frosts me is that the mewlers at the WaPo & other champions of the license plate slogan don’t take seriously the “no taxation” part. Now that ‘s a program I could get behind!
Though certainly, the bloated, over-funded DC government would move to increase its skim in the event of relief from the Federal tax.
Cordially…
We used to yell–no taxation without representation, but U.S. possessions get it pretty good. Yeah, no vote for President. Boo hoo. But they have a mirror U.S. income tax system that funnels funds right back to themselves. They keep it all. Plus they get all U.S. benefits such as food stamps, FEMA, and a host of federal benefits, paid by mainland U.S. taxpayers. Wonder why Puerto Rico does not go independent and does not become a state–because the status quo is sweeeeeet.
<shrug> If the people of DC feel left out they can move to a state; or they can lobby for an amendment to the constitution so they can vote Marion Barry into the congress.
Or, if neither of the above suits them, they can just STFU.
TW: saying13 as in colonies, I suppose…
The other thing that no one is mentioning, is that if they do get a representative, they will immediately demand Senate representation.
Can you say Sen. Jesse Jackson and Sen. Carol Mosley-Braun?
No.
$6.64 per dollar paid and those sonuvabitches are crying? And they wonder why the rest of us loath them so. We should nuke that cesspool before anyplace in the mid east.
we should nuke dc?
And are people really curious as to why the library of congress is near congress? If its so fucking great in DC, move there
No, don’t nuke DC! Too much fabulous architecture.
Let’s go with the Neutron Bomb.
emmadine,
No, people aren’t really curious about that. Read up on the Socratic Method and all will be revealed.
Vote Pablo! Otherwise, I’ll have to settle for the 2 or 3 trips a year. DC is a wonderful city to be in, as long as you don’t want to drive or have clean governance.
DC? Sure!
And American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianas, US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
Or better yet, move out of the Federal District.
Oh, gawd, where will it all end?
San Francisco?
If they want Senate representation they can give the land back to Maryland–the two we’ve got now aren’t any less leftist than the two they’d come up with on their own.
TW: Maybe we should have just stuck with the set48 we had…
Every resident of DC unhappy with our constitution should emigrate to Venezuela.
Washington has a voting congressman—
Louie Gohmert!
“But I would submit to you that Washington, D.C. is also the only city in the entire country that every Senator and every Member of Congress has a vested interest in seeing that it works properly, that water works, sewer works, and no other city in America has that.”
— Representative Louie Gohmert (R, TX-01), arguing against voting representation in Congress for the citizens of Washington, DC, in the Congressional Record, March 22, 2007, H2845.
Mr. Gohmert claims to be DC’s “virtual congressman,” and he is a former Eagle Scout and judge who teaches Sunday school, so we’re taking him at his word. All 500,000 of us.
If you live in DC and have a beef with the Feds, or a problem with water, sewers, trash, or parking, let Louie take care of it.
Call his East Texas District offices (toll free) at 1-866-535-6302 about any DC problems. Operators are standing by!