Give DC back to Maryland!

I see where S.160, the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009 has been passed in the Senate and will soon be before the House of Representatives.

First Congress spends years grousing about how President Bush ignores the Constitution. Then the Senate proceeds to ignore a perfectly Constitutional solution with legal precedent dating all the way back to 1846 and instead passes a bill that is Constitutionally problematic and expands the size of Congress in the midst of an economic recession/depression. I gather that politics is now more important than both fiscal responsibility and that “scrap of paper” called the Constitution.

I find that I am in total agreement with Senator Lamar Alexander's recent statement, “The bill passed by the Senate is unconstitutional because the District of Columbia is not a state. Our nation was formed by states, and the District is a unique city – not a state. The Constitution itself makes that distinction. The most logical alternative for giving D.C. residents full representation in Congress would be to give the District back to Maryland. The District was created from land ceded by Virginia and Maryland. Just as Arlington and part of Alexandria went back to Virginia in 1846, most of the District could again become part of Maryland, leaving only a small area around key federal buildings and monuments. I voted for an amendment that would have given DC residents full voting rights under this approach. Another option would be to keep the District as a separate entity, but allow DC residents to vote in Maryland. Congress should have passed one of these alternatives instead of passing an unconstitutional bill.” (emphasis mine)

Insofar as (1) the technological shrinking of our planet has lessened the clout associated with living in the seat of national power, and (2) the vast majority of the residents of the District of Columbia are not among the movers and shakers of our nation, I have no problem with the residents of the District receiving a voice in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives by returning the private property within the District to the Sovereign State of Maryland. On the other hand, I have real problems with Congress' current fixation on extra-Constitutional ”solutions!“