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Saturday, April 24, 2021 6:11:47 PM
D.C.’s voting rights sister city
"Think DC should be a state? I don't really think so,,"
The flag of the District of Columbia and the American flag.
(Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
I applaud the continuing emphasis on the unfairness of the District’s lack of representation in Congress, including in the Aug. 6 editorial “A new advocate for D.C.,” which was fueled by John Oliver’s show. B ut we often forget that there is a direct comparison that clearly highlights that unfairness. Australia established its capital, Canberra, in 1913 and placed it in a new Australian Capital Territory, much like Washington was placed in the District of Columbia in 1790 . But the difference is that since the mid-1970s, the Australian territory (with a population of about half of the District’s) has had two members with full voting powers in Australia’s House of Representatives and two in its Senate. This did not happen instantaneously. It took about 60 years and came after a non-voting House seat was created (sound familiar?) in 1948. D.C. residents are still waiting after 225 years.
Jeffrey S. Lubbers, Takoma Park
Don't know as haven't looked into it. It's obviously unfair residents don't have equal representation, so that is not a satisfactory situation. Off the top, looks the easiest way to fix it may be to allow the voters to vote as voters of Maryland. Then again if they were voting for changes in DC and DC was not part of Maryland that wouldn't work.
To Wikipedia
The District's lack of voting representation in Congress has been an issue since the capital's founding. Numerous proposals have been introduced to change this situation, including legislation and constitutional amendments, returning the District to the state of Maryland .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_retrocession , and making the District into a new state. All proposals have been met with political or constitutional challenges, and there has been no change in the District's representation in Congress.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_voting_rights
Virginia got their part of DC back so why not Maryland. Difference guessing, must be, government buildings including the White House are in the now smaller DC. So if that overrides giving it back to Maryland then in some other way the residents should be given the same representation as every other American citizen has. At least as every other citizen is meant to have. It's not fair to leave it as it is.
One of 5 comments to the up top
White Hawk
8/12/2015 1:10 PM EST
There is a very easy solution to DC's lack of voting rights: Give the land back to Maryland! Problem solved. Virginia got its part back in 1846! Any new attempt to create a 51st state on Marland's land will lead to millions of Marylanders demanding the retrocession of its territory, I will be one of many collecting signatures!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dcs-voting-rights-sister-city/2015/08/11/76b95636-3f72-11e5-b2c4-af4c6183b8b4_story.html
"Think DC should be a state? I don't really think so,,"
The flag of the District of Columbia and the American flag.
(Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
I applaud the continuing emphasis on the unfairness of the District’s lack of representation in Congress, including in the Aug. 6 editorial “A new advocate for D.C.,” which was fueled by John Oliver’s show. B ut we often forget that there is a direct comparison that clearly highlights that unfairness. Australia established its capital, Canberra, in 1913 and placed it in a new Australian Capital Territory, much like Washington was placed in the District of Columbia in 1790 . But the difference is that since the mid-1970s, the Australian territory (with a population of about half of the District’s) has had two members with full voting powers in Australia’s House of Representatives and two in its Senate. This did not happen instantaneously. It took about 60 years and came after a non-voting House seat was created (sound familiar?) in 1948. D.C. residents are still waiting after 225 years.
Jeffrey S. Lubbers, Takoma Park
Don't know as haven't looked into it. It's obviously unfair residents don't have equal representation, so that is not a satisfactory situation. Off the top, looks the easiest way to fix it may be to allow the voters to vote as voters of Maryland. Then again if they were voting for changes in DC and DC was not part of Maryland that wouldn't work.
To Wikipedia
The District's lack of voting representation in Congress has been an issue since the capital's founding. Numerous proposals have been introduced to change this situation, including legislation and constitutional amendments, returning the District to the state of Maryland .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_retrocession , and making the District into a new state. All proposals have been met with political or constitutional challenges, and there has been no change in the District's representation in Congress.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_voting_rights
Virginia got their part of DC back so why not Maryland. Difference guessing, must be, government buildings including the White House are in the now smaller DC. So if that overrides giving it back to Maryland then in some other way the residents should be given the same representation as every other American citizen has. At least as every other citizen is meant to have. It's not fair to leave it as it is.
One of 5 comments to the up top
White Hawk
8/12/2015 1:10 PM EST
There is a very easy solution to DC's lack of voting rights: Give the land back to Maryland! Problem solved. Virginia got its part back in 1846! Any new attempt to create a 51st state on Marland's land will lead to millions of Marylanders demanding the retrocession of its territory, I will be one of many collecting signatures!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dcs-voting-rights-sister-city/2015/08/11/76b95636-3f72-11e5-b2c4-af4c6183b8b4_story.html
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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