{"id":461029,"date":"2021-04-28T18:35:27","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T22:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=461029"},"modified":"2021-04-28T18:35:32","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T22:35:32","slug":"d-c-statehood-is-a-democrat-power-grab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/d-c-statehood-is-a-democrat-power-grab\/","title":{"rendered":"D.C. Statehood Is A Democrat Power Grab"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fd-c-statehood-is-a-democrat-power-grab%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=461029&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-3980.jpeg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>As bad idea after bad idea issues from the Biden White House and the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, one feels the decidedly adolescent impulse to roll one\u2019s eyes and go \u201cugh. We\u2019ve TALKED about this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2021\/04\/09\/president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-creating-the-presidential-commission-on-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2021\/04\/09\/president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-creating-the-presidential-commission-on-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1619730337728000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEJdcNQN9Knwvo2RU9tkCVTEm4xog\">Packing the courts<\/a>? We\u2019ve&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/the-history-and-meaning-of-court-packing\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/the-history-and-meaning-of-court-packing&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1619730337729000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGwZ3qLJnlh505eojqoAjx2GzRIiQ\"><em>talked<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;<\/em>about this. Abolishing the Electoral College? We\u2019ve&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/why-the-electoral-college-was-created\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/why-the-electoral-college-was-created&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1619730337729000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGNoe7AlUqfwgIsd7RjvUnU5dApng\">talked<\/a>&nbsp;about that, too. And making D.C. a State? Gahh, we have&nbsp;<em>definitely<\/em>&nbsp;already talked about this one,&nbsp;<em>MOM<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>All of these dreadful suggestions have been floated again and again throughout our history, then crushed under the weight of their manifold logical and constitutional flaws. More often than not their own supporters have come to realize that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/claremontreviewofbooks.com\/the-electoral-college-by-dawns-early-light\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/claremontreviewofbooks.com\/the-electoral-college-by-dawns-early-light\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1619730337729000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHF-w6r8hxu1cwzRv_S-0Uvw_5Xkw\">whoops<\/a>, this was actually not such a great idea after all, and their brilliant new idea was actually just the same old bad idea. We have, I say once again, talked about this.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of DC statehood \u2014 now a favorite pet project of our leftist ruling class \u2014 the answer should be obvious. It\u2019s flatly unconstitutional. But apparently that\u2019s <em>not&nbsp;<\/em>obvious, so (*sigh*) here we go.<\/p>\n<p><strong>D.C. Statehood<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The basic argument in favor of statehood, articulated in rather inelegant prose on the government <a href=\"https:\/\/statehood.dc.gov\/page\/why-statehood-dc\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/statehood.dc.gov\/page\/why-statehood-dc&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1619730337729000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGP0Esx0-I7YWqNgfAEo-Vouf140w\">website<\/a> of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, is that D.C.\u2019s current status \u2014 as a federal district with no congressional representatives \u2014 constitutes an instance of taxation without representation. D.C. residents \u201cbear the responsibilities of citizenship, including taxation and Selective Service registration [the draft], without sharing in the full rights and privileges of citizenship [like the right to vote for Senators and Representatives].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And of course this has been very effectively folded into the obsessively racialized rhetoric which now characterizes the Democrat Party line. So Bowser makes all the obligatory mentions of the \u201csystemic inequality\u201d to which \u201cresidents of Washington, D.C. have been subjected.\u201d This is a \u201cgreat historic wrong\u201d because \u201cWashington, D.C. is a historically Black city and Black people still make 47% of the population.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From a constitutional standpoint, of course, that\u2019s a complete irrelevancy: it has absolutely nothing to do with why the Constitution says D.C. can\u2019t be a state, why history has validated the wisdom of the Founders on this point, or why Republicans and people with brains are agreed that making D.C. a state is a nakedly partisan ploy. But pretending that everything is about race has proven successful as a tactic for the Dems so far \u2014 can\u2019t blame them for sticking with what works.<\/p>\n<p>In actual fact, however (for those of us still interested in such arcane things as facts), here is what the Constitution says on this point (Article 1, Section 8):<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"18\">\n<p>The Congress shall have Power\u2026. To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In other words, there is to be no intermediate authority between the Federal government and the places where the power of the Federal government sits. A state is an intermediate authority, one which rules a given territory and may put checks on Federal power. So there is no state power between the Federal government and the place where it lives.<\/p>\n<p>You accept this when you decide to live in D.C. It\u2019s a necessity and it\u2019s part of the deal. In fact, since 1961, when Congress passed the 23rd Amendment, D.C. residents have had it easier than they otherwise would: they can vote in presidential elections, for the sole purposes of which they are counted as a mock state with 3 electoral votes.<\/p>\n<p>And of course D.C. citizens have always been allowed local municipal government, which is why they get to do stupid things like elect Muriel Bowser as mayor. They can run their own affairs when those affairs don\u2019t pertain to national rule. What they\u2019re not allowed to do is count themselves as an independent authority with national representation \u2014 they\u2019re not allowed to be a state. The Capitol is run by Congress, and them\u2019s the breaks. Don\u2019t like it? Move to Maryland.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why D.C. Makes Sense As-Is<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are excellent reasons for this. The most important of them are summarized by James Madison in a nifty paragraph from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/avalon.law.yale.edu\/18th_century\/fed43.asp\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/avalon.law.yale.edu\/18th_century\/fed43.asp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1619730337729000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGAXQncZgXP9jnEX5ct9Icu6vQrGg\"><em>Federalist&nbsp;<\/em>#43<\/a>. Madison basically thought it should have been obvious why you need \u201ccomplete authority at the seat of government.\u201d That sweet summer child. But he still did us the courtesy of explaining, for which our degraded age thanks him.<\/p>\n<p>Madison points out that direct authority over its local environs \u201cis a power exercised by every legislature of the Union. I might say the world, by virtue of its general supremacy.\u201d This is just how things work: state legislatures get to control&nbsp;<em>their<\/em>&nbsp;territory, so the federal government gets to control&nbsp;<em>its<\/em>&nbsp;territory. This is because:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"11\">\n<p>a dependence of the members of the general government on the State comprehending the seat of the government, for protection in the exercise of their duty, might bring on the national councils an imputation of awe or influence, equally dishonorable to the government and dissatisfactory to the other members of the Confederacy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In other words, if you create a political institution which regulates the management of territory and resources upon which the federal government depends, then you essentially give a local body control and bargaining power over the highest authority in the land. A D.C. state, despite its tiny size (a little over 700,000 people\u2014less than live in Rhode Island) would exercise a staggering and unaccountable power. It would potentially have leverage to frustrate the daily operations of Congress itself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Democrats Really Want<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All this gives us some clues about what the Left is&nbsp;<em>really&nbsp;<\/em>after here. D.C. is bright blue. They\u2019d reliably elect two Democrats to the Senate, which could easily tip the balance there in partisan times like ours. But perhaps even more importantly, turning D.C. into a state immediately creates a leftist seat of power right where the federal government operates. It\u2019s like a Democrat chokehold on an area that\u2019s supposed to belong to the entire country.<\/p>\n<p>This shows you why a supposedly nifty little Constitutional&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/04\/23\/politics\/washington-dc-statehood-101\/index.html\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/04\/23\/politics\/washington-dc-statehood-101\/index.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1619730337729000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEEeYfu0CxanVoi9ykClujDzu1Z8Q\">loophole<\/a>, which House legislators think they\u2019ve found, is pure meaningless pedantry. The bill to make D.C. a state, which has passed the House but will almost certainly founder in the Senate, maintains a nominal district over which the Federal government would still have power. It just makes that district vanishingly small: the bill would reduce federal jurisdiction to the area just around the National Mall, the White House, and Capitol hill \u2014 where, in the words of CNN\u2019s Zachary Wolf, \u201cpretty much nobody but the President lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But&nbsp;<em>Federalist&nbsp;<\/em>#43 makes perfectly clear that merely&nbsp;<em>having&nbsp;<\/em>some tiny patch of land where the feds technically rule is not the point of what the Constitution says. For real \u201cauthority at the seat of government,\u201d Congress needs to have control over the actual area where it\u2019s situated \u2014 not just a few buildings in the middle of that area. This is about who gets power, simple as that. And the Democrats \u2014 surprise! \u2014 want that power for their own. The Constitution plainly says it isn\u2019t theirs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Calling Their Bluff<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s another way you can tell this is a pure ploy to get more blue votes. Senator Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas, introduced&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/04\/23\/politics\/washington-dc-statehood-101\/index.html\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/04\/23\/politics\/washington-dc-statehood-101\/index.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1619730337729000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEEeYfu0CxanVoi9ykClujDzu1Z8Q\">another bill<\/a> that would make D.C. into part of Maryland instead of a separate state unto itself. This solution \u2014 giving D.C. to Maryland rather than making it a state \u2014 is called \u201cretrocession.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, Maryland doesn\u2019t really&nbsp;<em>want<\/em> D.C. \u2014 can you blame them? According to a 2016 Public Policy Polling survey, 44% of Maryland voters said they\u2019d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicpolicypolling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/PPP_Release_MD_42216.pdf\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.publicpolicypolling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/PPP_Release_MD_42216.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1619730337729000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGE70XRxhn_9LBHxci0v6c4k13RgQ\">rather not<\/a>&nbsp;annex the nation\u2019s capital, thank you very much, as compared with 28% who approved. But retrocession would totally eliminate the whole \u201ctaxation without representation\u201d argument. It wouldn\u2019t fix the Constitutional problem, and as we\u2019ve already seen the whole representation complaint is bogus to begin with. But Marshall is basically asking Democrats a question: if taxation without representation is your problem, why doesn\u2019t becoming part of Maryland solve it?<\/p>\n<p>Because shut up, that\u2019s why. Democrats have no answer to that question, and they don\u2019t care. Mayor Bowser (remember her?) addressed the issue briefly in a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mayor.dc.gov\/release\/mayor-bowser-delivers-georgetown-law%E2%80%99s-2019-philip-hart-memorial-lecture-opening-argument-dc\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/mayor.dc.gov\/release\/mayor-bowser-delivers-georgetown-law%25E2%2580%2599s-2019-philip-hart-memorial-lecture-opening-argument-dc&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1619730337729000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF1fnt_U8uJK99ke1ahoY3W5EAJDQ\">2019 speech<\/a>. Her only argument was that \u201cDC voters have already said loud and clear that we do not want retrocession, we want statehood.\u201d The way she pretended this matters was by pointing out (accurately) that Article 4, Section 3 of the Constitution says the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"9\">\n<p>no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But of course, D.C. as currently constituted&nbsp;<em>isn\u2019t&nbsp;<\/em>a state, or even part of a state. That\u2019s the whole point. D.C.\u2019s vote on this \u2014 expressly, according to the Constitution \u2014 doesn\u2019t count. Only Maryland\u2019s state legislature, and Congress, count. If they voted to retrocede, that would be that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Power, Power, Power<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But let me let you in on a depressing secret: Democrats don\u2019t care about any of this. They\u2019re not here to have a conversation, or to make arguments in good faith, or to serve the interests of the Americans they claim to champion. They\u2019re here to win, and winning for them means reshaping the country until they rule it unilaterally.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the point. What the Left would love to do is carve up the country in such a way that they get maximal blue votes with minimal input from legitimate American voters. They\u2019re perfectly willing to ship in illegal immigrants to do it. They\u2019re more than happy to drive people to the polls and or fill in their mail-in ballots with them to make sure they vote the right way. And they\u2019re just waiting for a chance to conjure congressional votes out of thin air, until those big swaths of red in the middle of the country don\u2019t matter and the whole thing can be one-party rule, forever.<\/p>\n<p>Now, we\u2019re not there yet. The Senate (thank God) will likely smack this thing down, and despite a dedicated misinformation campaign from every legacy media outlet, not everyone is hoodwinked by Democrat race-baiting on this issue. But those are the stakes, and that\u2019s what D.C. statehood is about: not representation, or fairness, or democracy, or whatever other meaningless shibboleth they throw at it. This is about control, and about undermining the delicate constitutional system which makes us a true republic. Anyone who loves that system, and wants to live in such a nation \u2014 fragile though it is these days \u2014 should laugh the idea of D.C. statehood to scorn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>member<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As bad idea after bad idea issues from the Biden White House and the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, one feels the decidedly adolescent impulse to roll one\u2019s eyes and go &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1896277,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1896277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}