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Once again, Democrats are trying to turn the District of Columbia (D.C.) into the 51st state. Their underlying motive is to add two new Senators to the U.S. Senate, both of whom would almost certainly be liberal-voting Democrats.

 

I participated in a three hour (virtual) hearing today listening to both sides of this issue. Honestly, it’s not even a real debate. Here’s the reality:

 

Our Founding Fathers intentionally wanted Washington, D.C. to be a district, NOT a state. In fact, they wisely & carefully crafted the Constitution so that the seat of our federal government would not be located in (and therefore possibly partial to) any one state.

 

In terms of population, fewer people live in D.C. than live in Charlotte. In terms of geography, D.C. is just over 68 square miles, which is 17x smaller than the smallest state in our nation, Rhode Island.

 

So Democrats are trying to carve out the residential parts of this tiny area to create a brand-new state, thereby increasing their liberal majority in Congress. Meanwhile, most of the federal buildings, including the Capitol Building, White House, federal monuments, Supreme Court, and “executive, legislative, and judicial office buildings located adjacent to the Mall and the Capitol Building” would all remain in the D.C.

 

Obviously, there are people who live inside the District of Columbia. And in terms of representation in Congress, they are not represented by Senators or Representatives like we are here in South Carolina. They knew this when they chose to live there!

 

But this effort isn’t about their representation. If it was, this bill would simply cede the residential parts of D.C. – in other words, cede everything except the federal enclave – to Maryland. That’s the proper way to handle it.

 

However, that’s not what Democrats are trying to do. They’re trying to create a new micro-state with a relatively small number of people in order to add two additional liberals to the U.S. Senate. It’s yet ANOTHER liberal power grab.