Rhetorical Outbursts

I don’t spend a lot of time thinking or talking about this subject, but have long been of the opinion that the District of Columbia was never intended to be a state and should not be made into a state. If the residents of D.C. wish to have the privileges of statehood and do not have the means to move to a state, then perhaps they should petition the state of Maryland from which the District was carved to reincorporate the District into its borders. My position actually has nothing whatsoever to do with the balance of power in the Congress. Even if Utah is given more seats as a result of D.C.’s representation in Congress or if D.C. were a predominantly Republican district, I would still think it inappropriate to turn the seat of government into something is was not meant to be.

NRO has a piece on this that gives actual facts and logical explanations for the position I have instinctually adopted.

The fig leaf of an argument made by supporters of the bill is that the Constitution gives Congress exclusive jurisdiction over D.C., and thus gives Congress the power to give it voting representation in Congress. This argument is a classic case of proving too much: May the Congress therefore create a monarchy for D.C.? Obviously not: The grant of exclusive jurisdiction does not permit Congress to do anything that the rest of the Constitution forbids — and the rest of the Constitution clearly forbids it to treat D.C. as a state.

When the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, they were concerned about the possibility of a single state’s holding too much influence over the seat of national government. So they created a special federal district, outside the jurisdiction of the states and under the exclusive authority of Congress. Today, the balance of power between the states and the federal government has reversed, with the states more worried about federal encroachments than vice versa. But the words of the Founders remain, and they cannot be disregarded.

Ramesh Ponnuru has a few words to say on the matter as does Matthew Franck.