I read recently in The Washington Post that Congress is considering making the District of Columbia its own state.
My first thought was silly but still one that probably crosses other people’s minds: 50 states sounds so concrete, and 51 sounds annoyingly uneven. We aren’t accustomed to it.
After reading the article, I thought seriously about why D.C. should be a state and realized why its residents want it so badly.
It surprised me looking at the article’s accompanying graphic that said, “The 51st state would have a population of 645,000, larger than Wyoming or Vermont.”
I didn’t realize just how many people live in D.C. It seems like a no-brainer, then, that they should be represented.
According to the Post, only two senators were at the meeting about granting D.C. statehood, and one of those was a senator who proposed the bill. Other members of Congress need to take this more seriously. President Barack Obama didn’t even send a representative to speak about the bill, even though he has said he supports it.
There aren’t enough people who have signed the bill for it to pass, but it’s time action is taken.
After reading several articles in the Post about D.C.’s potential statehood, I realized I didn’t know how residents vote there and for whom they can vote.
The D.C. Board of Elections website reads it has a mayor in charge of the city and council members, but no one represents them in our national government. It does have a delegate to the House of Representatives, but that person does not have a vote on the House floor. That person can only vote in Committee.
A major argument residents have is the $4 billion in taxes they pay, according to the Post. If you go to D.C., you’d see “Taxation without representation” appears on D.C. license plates. If the residents are contributing that much in taxes, I think they deserve representation too.
Also, consider the members of our military who hail from D.C. I’m sure they want a member of Congress to represent them as well.
I’d love to live in D.C. one day. The times that I’ve been, it has always been exciting how young and driven people seem, and there’s always new growth in the city. It’s fast-paced, exciting and filled with people my age.
According to the Post, from years 2000-2010, D.C.’s population growth has mainly been due to people aged 18-34.
Many of them are most likely to be politically active since they work in the nation’s capital, and many of them hold political jobs. It would be very interesting to see how they vote and whom they choose to represent them.
That also could be a reason why more congressmen don’t bother working to make D.C. a state. Many who are more conservative probably don’t want to see them become a state because of how that age demographic typically votes. But the 20-34 age group is the future of our country, and that is us. Even if the voting tendencies of our demographic are intimidating to certain politicians, that in no way should be a reason to keep D.C. from being represented.
I wouldn’t be satisfied with just voting for the president and for a delegate who hardly has any power to the House. I’d want someone in Congress who represents me. More than likely, it won’t be given statehood anytime soon, but I hope that one day if I’m considering moving to D.C. for a job, it will be a state by then.
