“House approves statehood for DC in 232-180 vote“

I accept that as your opinion, but I'd point out that you didn't answer the points in #266.

So, let's just talk about the first one.

I know of no legal way for the federal government to force Maryland to accept DC. Overriding the will of states in regard to their borders is not something to be taken lightly.

In the end, whatever change is made DOES need to be legal. And, it has to be satisfactory to the parties involved.



There IS a legal process for DC to become a state.

And, let's remember that the House can vote on taking action on using an established legal process.

Creating a way for the federal government to take action against Maryland or for addressing the law on ceding parts of DC? Not so much. Those are radical ideas with NO known solution. In fact, I would oppose the federal government being allowed to change a state's borders without the acceptance of the parties involved. Nobody in our government is going to like that direction.

With statehood, there are arguments such as taxation without representation.

With advancing federal power over a state's borders there is NO such justification. In fact, states have rights of their borders. No state is going to surrender such rights to the federal government.

 

Please remember that before I looked into it I actually proposed that, too.

 

why didn’t the house take the proper legal action and try to amend the constitution?

 

I do not know what amendment you are proposing.

DC can be made a state without there being an amendment as far as I know.

 

the constitution requires a federal district and then there is the issue of the 23rd amendment.

the proper thing would first allow maryland to vote if they want it. did the house ask?

 

NOBODY has suggested that there won't be a federal district. The federal government is using only a small fraction of DC. That portion would be made permanent - maybe with some buffer around it for expansion or security or whatever - the point being that the federal government does not need more than a small fraction of DC. It certainly does not need the land owned by businesses and the hundreds of thousands of residents.

The 23rd amendment? Yes, that's another road block for ceding DC to Maryland. Thanks, I'll remember that.

Maryland has had a number of opportunities to state what its politicians and its populace would prefer. And, each time they reject DC.

There was a significant poll of citizens of Maryland on this in 2016. Maryland politicians have also weighed in.

Also, there is the problem that DC residents do NOT want to be part of Maryland. They want statehood. Their problem is that their representatives in congress can't vote, the House gets to decide their budget, they have no say in taxes, etc. Becoming part of Maryland doesn't do that much for them. It just means some other outside force gets control.

 

when was the last time maryland voted on the issue?

the land belongs to maryland first and foremost. they get the first say. no the house dems or even the residents of DC that are living on land Maryland gave the federal govt. If they want to vote so bad in congress take the metro a couple miles and move to MD or VA

the only people pushing for this small area to be a state are dems because they believe it will give them two more senate seats. there is no logical reason for this small area to become a state.

 

That is just one more BS partisan screed.

DC has long wanted full representation, control over its budget, control over its on taxes as well as representation in federal tax issues, the ability to borrow money to do stuff like improve infrastructure - all the things that states can do and they can NOT do.

DC was ceded with no strings attached.

And, you are still dodging that neither DC nor Maryland are interested in DC becoming a part of Maryland - so, it isn't going to happen.

I really have NO respect for the idea that DC residents should move away. That just has absolutely nothing to do with representative democracy, being a republic, or anything else that America stands for.

It's the same as the "our flag, love it or leave it" crap.

 

ROFL I know it FAR better than you and the only one citing it as it backs what I have said.

 

The logical reason for statehood is that there are more people there than in Wyoming and Vermont. Mountains don't need representation people do. Why don't we take statehood away from Vermont and Wyoming. We could also make the Dakotas one state.

 

ROFLMAO the only thing partisan is those who want to create a new state which would be totally unnecessary even if the federal government gave up that lane, which it will not. or the States vote to create a new state, which they will not. It has been a federal district for over 200 years and everyone living there knows it is when they choose to live there the don't have a right to demand the rest of the country grant them statehood for that small strip of land.

 

High tech is useless without food to eat. So I would say that those ranchers and farmers are about 1000% more valuable to our society than urban dwellers.

Anyways .... No DC statehood for you. Compromise fail.

 

because they are states. DC is a federal district, created out land a state gave the federal govt.

we need a federal district because the constitution demands it

 

DC has home rule and does infurstrucure all the time as well as borrow money.

i asked when was the last time MD voted...you never asked

and i said the residents of DC don’t get a chance to decide until after MD does since it was MD land first.

if the house dems were serious they’d actually follow the legal process instead of passing a bill that would clearly have constitutional issues

 

There has been a whole lot of history since the 1700's.

And, they weren't around for that.

I'm sure anything you know will show up when you have a point to make.

 

You underestimate the power and reach of democracy.

Having unrepresented citizens is not a good thing for anyone who cares about America.

In the 1700's they were feeling their way and the current use of DC is not what they expected.

 

That's not how economics works.

We moved from agriculture to manufacturing as our competitive edge.

We're now in the process of moving beyond that, as pretty much every nation can do manufacturing.

We produce a lot of food, but that's not the source of our standard of living anymore.

 

No, Maryland has NO strings attached to DC. Yes, neither DC nor Maryland are accepting of the idea of DC being part of Maryland. This has been tested repeatedly. It has no been tested by a vote on some bill, because nobody in favor of this direction has figured out how such a bill could ever be written.

For example, such a bill would have to have a solution to the problem that it is not currently legal for DC to be ceded - period. And, that law is not a state level law.

The only defined process that is legal is that of statehood.

You're still making general statements that have been shown to not hold true.

You can't plead ignorance on the opinion of politicians and the populace of Maryland and Washington, DC. That is known.

 

DC can do what the US House allows them to do.

Would you be happy with your state being run by a committee in the US House? Yes or No.

 

no hence why i live in a state and not in the federal district

 

so MD has never voted? actually the state very much has a say since the Constituition requires approval of a state to make another state from an existing state

 

They are just as much Americans as we are.

If we actually believe in our founding principles we would apply them across the board.

I know that's hard. We hate equality when it isn't advantageous to ourselves.

 

The real question is whether Maryland would accept DC becoming part of Maryland.

We know the answer to that. There isn't any ambiguity.

Washington, DC gets a right of approval, too. And, we know what they think - and why.

AND, we know that there isn't a legal way to cede DC to Maryland even if they both LIKED it.

 

My points have been clearly stated and backed by the Constitution and the Founding Fathers.

 

The real question is why would the Federal Government cede that land. No one is forced to live in that federal district which is so important to our capital.