Sunday 21 February 2021

The Short Discussion Over DC Becoming a State

 After a lot of thought on the idea, the process, and the 'script'....I will suggest three things to occur as DC prepares for this summer effort to obtain state-status:

1.  At some point, the fact will be put up that it's the first ever creation within the US of a city-state...meaning that the mayor/governor title will exist.  A number of intellectual types will try to grasp this model, and how it can work in real life.  For example, there's typical a legislative background....will the city council of DC (13 members) just equate itself to be a legislative group, with thirteen members?

This drags out the really stupid question....mayors and city council folks usually worry about pot-holes, snow removal, and street names.  This is something that most governors and legislative members don't do.  Can the governor and legislative group act like such a creation, or will this be a long-term problem?

2.  All Democratic senators locked onto this DC entry?  Well....no.  This got brought up this week....four Democrats are not hyped-up or showing a willing nature to vote for this

The two Democrats from Arizona (Kelly and Sinema) haven't said anything in public and have avoided the topic entirely.  The Maine independent (who typically votes with them)....King?  He has avoided the topic entirely.  The West Virginia guy? Manchin?  He hasn't made a comment since this whole thing popped up.

Without those four votes, the DC application won't pass.

3.  Finally, this debate comes up over federal government control of the District.  As a state, the Feds would no longer have a say in the running or operational control of the District (flipped to state-status).  

The inauguration process?  Well....the DC state apparatus could be unhappy over the pick of the President, and engage strict limits on the inauguration ceremony, the crowd, and the events of the day.  

There are a hundred different ways that the state of Columbia could be this 'Frankenstein' with no way of fixing the mess....except for moving the Federal apparatus out of Columbia entirely and re-inventing another District elsewhere (out of thin air). 

So, I come to my judgement here....once you see that Puerto Rico and Guam won't be offered the same path to statehood....the discussion will disintegrate over the last half of 2021, and become another zero-subject by Christmas.  DC will stay DC.  

(I should suggest this....Georgetown (the neighborhood to the far NW of DC)....ought to go out and demand it's own state-status, and split this entire effort into two states applying)

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