Are there any legitimate reasons why someone would oppose DC statehood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My opposition is that the two senators from DC would have the same voting clout as the senators from states with significantly greater populations. We already have that problem with North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, etc. I would rather have a Maryland Congressional district(s) that include the non-federal land in DC and allow people in DC to vote for and be represented by the Senators from Maryland.

The entire point of the Senate is that every state gets equal representation, regardless of size. At the time of the the first census (1790), Massachusetts (378,787), Pennsylvania (434,373), and Virginia (747,610) were far more populous (and potentially powerful) than other states. Together they represented 40 percent of the then 3,893,635 population. The reason for the structure of our Senate is to protect states rights and provide some safeguards for minority opinion. While representation is disproportionate, it does allow for regional interests (manufacturing sectors, border states’ immigration concerns, protection/distribution of scarce western water resources, etc.) to be better represented in the legislative branch.

Besides, we’re not exactly going to amend the constitution to start revoking Senate representation or statehood from less populous states as a means of providing electoral parity. No one would voluntarily give up their power, no matter how much you don’t care for Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and the Dakotas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we go back to having Congress run the District?

They do. They have the right to overturn every law that the Council and Mayor pass during a review period.

Even when the laws aren’t overturned, Congress can control how the city government spends money collected from
city tax payers. These are DC’s dollars, not federal money. In this way DC has been prevented from enacting recreational marijuana sales, which taxpayers approved in 2014.

Though we don’t have voting representation in Congress, DC has a delegate to represent our interests. Yet, she has been stripped of her right to participate in committees in the past, thus depriving District residents of any direct influence on the Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My opposition is that the two senators from DC would have the same voting clout as the senators from states with significantly greater populations. We already have that problem with North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, etc. I would rather have a Maryland Congressional district(s) that include the non-federal land in DC and allow people in DC to vote for and be represented by the Senators from Maryland.

The entire point of the Senate is that every state gets equal representation, regardless of size. At the time of the the first census (1790), Massachusetts (378,787), Pennsylvania (434,373), and Virginia (747,610) were far more populous (and potentially powerful) than other states. Together they represented 40 percent of the then 3,893,635 population. The reason for the structure of our Senate is to protect states rights and provide some safeguards for minority opinion. While representation is disproportionate, it does allow for regional interests (manufacturing sectors, border states’ immigration concerns, protection/distribution of scarce western water resources, etc.) to be better represented in the legislative branch.

Besides, we’re not exactly going to amend the constitution to start revoking Senate representation or statehood from less populous states as a means of providing electoral parity. No one would voluntarily give up their power, no matter how much you don’t care for Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and the Dakotas.

How is that working out these days?

[Anonymous]

I live in DC and oppose Statehood because the city is the siege of the Federal gvt. If you think that the gvt is corrupted now, wait until a senator from DC gets his/her pet projects funded..
I would favor giving the DC citizen the choice to vote either in Virginia or Maryland OR not paying Federal taxes (taxation without representation).
I bet everyone would chose no taxes ... which would mean a town attracting LOTS of people/companies/.. .. which would mean LOTS of revenues (for the city).
Win-win-win...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC and oppose Statehood because the city is the siege of the Federal gvt. If you think that the gvt is corrupted now, wait until a senator from DC gets his/her pet projects funded..
I would favor giving the DC citizen the choice to vote either in Virginia or Maryland OR not paying Federal taxes (taxation without representation).
I bet everyone would chose no taxes ... which would mean a town attracting LOTS of people/companies/.. .. which would mean LOTS of revenues (for the city).
Win-win-win...

Nope. DC would become a tax haven for high net worth individuals. It would permanently and irrevocably distort our housing and commercial real estate markets.

I’m proud to pay my taxes. I believe in the things they support and I believe that rights come with responsibilities. But I do really dislike not having a say in legislative matters of national importance. That has been meaningful to me in my tenure as a DC resident.

[Anonymous]

Anything that gives democrats an edge like take away electoral college, let black people vote, remove Fox News , stop Putin, and make DC a state, make Puerto Rico a state...allows dems to win. Since there are more democrats than republicans in the nation.

[Anonymous]

DC Statehood is a joke. Retrocession to Md. is the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC Statehood is a joke. Retrocession to Md. is the future.

Cool. As a DC resident, I like having property taxes that are half of Maryland’s, lower income taxes, school choice, decriminalized marijuana, a higher value to my solar renewable energy credits, access to assisted suicide if I need it, and a government that funds transit well. I don’t want to give any of that up to be part of Maryland. Nor does the Maryland statehouse want a bunch of new constituents like me tilting the balance in a far more liberal direction. The Douglass County thing is such a bizarre, politically impossible fantasy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC Statehood is a joke. Retrocession to Md. is the future.

Cool. As a DC resident, I like having property taxes that are half of Maryland’s, lower income taxes, school choice, decriminalized marijuana, a higher value to my solar renewable energy credits, access to assisted suicide if I need it, and a government that funds transit well. I don’t want to give any of that up to be part of Maryland. Nor does the Maryland statehouse want a bunch of new constituents like me tilting the balance in a far more liberal direction. The Douglass County thing is such a bizarre, politically impossible fantasy.

This. Not sure how something is “the future” when neither DC or MD want this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC and oppose Statehood because the city is the siege of the Federal gvt. If you think that the gvt is corrupted now, wait until a senator from DC gets his/her pet projects funded..
I would favor giving the DC citizen the choice to vote either in Virginia or Maryland OR not paying Federal taxes (taxation without representation).
I bet everyone would chose no taxes ... which would mean a town attracting LOTS of people/companies/.. .. which would mean LOTS of revenues (for the city).
Win-win-win...

I like both of these.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC and oppose Statehood because the city is the siege of the Federal gvt. If you think that the gvt is corrupted now, wait until a senator from DC gets his/her pet projects funded..
I would favor giving the DC citizen the choice to vote either in Virginia or Maryland OR not paying Federal taxes (taxation without representation).
I bet everyone would chose no taxes ... which would mean a town attracting LOTS of people/companies/.. .. which would mean LOTS of revenues (for the city).
Win-win-win...

I like both of these.

See above. If Maryland doesn’t want DC’s voters, why on Earth would Virginia want to risk 374k Democrats in its elections? How would these voters vote in statewide elections in VA but local elections in DC? To what congressional district in VA or MD would the voters be assigned if they didn’t actually live there?

If it’s supposedly unconstitutional to make DC a state, how would this bizarre menu of “solutions” be constitutional?

[Anonymous]

Senior editor of DCist live tweets today’s House hearing on DC statehood starting here:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anything that gives democrats an edge like take away electoral college, let black people vote, remove Fox News , stop Putin, and make DC a state, make Puerto Rico a state...allows dems to win. Since there are more democrats than republicans in the nation.

I’ll tell you one thing— this nation is in the grip of lies from Fox and approximately zero of the poor suckers who watch Fox have ever heard of Rupert Murdoch.

It’s a travesty. This old-as-sh*t evil Australian and Republican billionaire builds a channel to spread hate and white identity politics, and the poor Republican base fools all think it’s real, and don’t realize they’re being screwed.
Sad losers. I’d enjoy watching them get screwed by huge tax cuts for the rich if they weren’t burning the whole world down with them.

[Anonymous]

Do you think that as long as Eleanor Holmes (“I forgot to pay my taxes for a decade”) Snortin’ represents Washington DC it will ever be a state ?’

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think that as long as Eleanor Holmes (“I forgot to pay my taxes for a decade”) Snortin’ represents Washington DC it will ever be a state ?’

lol......anybody that’s been paying attention understands that DC politicians are too corrupt and incompetent to run anything, much less a state. And the imbeciles that repeatedly elect these buffoons can’t be trusted as an electorate.