Somebody let Wyoming know its days are numbered

[bigtree]

Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow
The Republican argument against DC statehood is literally "we don't like how they would vote"
7:23 AM · Mar 23, 2021

Claire McCaskill @clairecmc
If your reason for opposing DC statehood is that it is too small and has a lopsided partisan tilt, then somebody let Wyoming know its days are numbered.
11:14 PM · Mar 22, 2021

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

...oversight committe hearing yesterday:

...when D.C. becomes a state, it will be the only state in our country that is majority Black.
twitter.com/ACLUVA/status/1373735917761003520

[marble falls]

1. And Washington DC has about 200,000 more in population than Wyoming.

[DENVERPOPS]

32. And how about

North Dakota and South Dakota???????? their populations can't be that much greater??????

[Celerity]

47. Rounds is a Senator from South Dakota, a state whose ONLY reason for existence, along

with North Dakota, is that is was created by splitting the Dakota Territory into 2 parts to give the Republicans two extra Senators and an extra House Rep!!

The jacobs on that POS!!!

[moose65]

72. I was just reading about that the other day

When Benjamin Harrison was President, starting in 1889, there were SIX states admitted to the Union in less than a year (the most states ever admitted under a single President). Harrison, by the way, had lost the popular vote to Grover Cleveland in the 1888 election.

The six states were North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Washington. The Dakota territory was deliberately split in two in hopes of adding 4 more Republican senators.

Adding states has always been political. Statehood for DC is no different.

[marble falls]

63. Vermont's isn't, ND's is about 50,000 less, SD about 75,000 more. Wyoming has about 250K less.

We need to dump the GOP states.

[FailureToCommunicate]

2. Ah, but does D.C. have mines? Or car dealerships?

(Republicans explaining why D.C. doesn't have what it takes to truly be qualified for statehood.)

On Rachel Maddow's show last night.

[bigtree]

3. they needs a few grain silos, methinks

...

[smb]

12. Maybe Some Grain Pyramids Too nt

[demosincebirth]

81. Good one.

[wnylib]

6. Well, they have a river, national parks,

and lots of monuments, like many other states. And a lot of tourists, too.

[spooky3]

42. And corporate headquarters, and major universities, and big hospitals, etc. nt

[Bucky]

49. But. Not. Grain. Silos!!!

In case you forgot the words of the Constitution: One silo, one vote

[wnylib]

61. Well, why not convert the Trump hotel?

[Bucky]

66. It's not pyramid shaped

Which is weird, considering how many of Trump's business plans are explicitly Pyramid shaped.

[wnylib]

67. Tear it down and use the property.

[yardwork]

85. Good one!

[marmar]

4. "#DCStatehood is really about packing the Senate with Democrats in order to pass a left-wing agenda"

No asshole, that's just a side benefit.

[Tommymac]

5. DC has NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS sports franchises...but the voters are disenfranchised.

Last edited Tue Mar 23, 2021, 12:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Wyoming has...sheep. And cows. And 2 US Senators and 1 US Representative.

Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

[HUAJIAO]

13. LOLOLOLOLOL

[Danmel]

20. Don't forget the NHL

Though as a NY Rangers fan, if I never see Alex Ovechkin again, I would be very happy

[Tommymac]

40. Thanks and done.

I'm a Pens fan so I guess I subconsciously 'forgot' about the Caps.

[Delmette2.0]

29. Even if you combine WY with MT and ID or ND and SD

You could not support just one major league team.

[KPN]

30. Yup! If DC doesn't qualify as a State, divide the State of Wyoming between the 7

States that surround it. Get rid of it!

Did the founding fathers intend Wyoming to be a State? Of course not, how could they?

[jmowreader]

78. Why do that?

Merge MT, WY, ND and SD into one state. It gets three representatives and two senators.

Then we could grant statehood to DC and PR, and split California into Northern California and Southern California - with the capitol of NCa in Sacramento and the capitol of SCa in Los Angeles.

The biggest advantage, besides that we'll never have to look at a Republican-led Senate again, is the state count would remain at 50.

[Grins]

41. One U.S. rep. that has VOTING PRIVILEGES in the House! NM

[TNNurse]

7. Did the founding fathers know about South Dakota???

Probably did not think of it as a state either....what a jerk.

[heckles65]

8. "The Founding Fathers never intended for Washington D.C. to be a state."

So?

"#DCStatehood is really about packing the Senate with Democrats in order to pass a left-wing agenda."

Rather like Republicans when they admitted Nevada - although it had far fewer non-Indian inhabitants than the 50,000 requirement - and split the Dakotas into two states.

[Canoe52]

11. They didn't intend for woman to vote or slaves to be free either..

[yonder]

14. +1. Excellent point! What a great answer to claims about original intentions.

In light of recent events, I'd add they never intended for kooks with guns to be skulking around blasting innocent people either.

[Canoe52]

33. An even better point! You just took it to infinity and beyond.

[Marcuse]

60. President Washington was ready to personally kick the asses of the Whiskey Rebellion seditionists.

According to biographer Joseph Ellis in His Excellency, George Washington, the aging president mounted his horse on September 30 to lead a force of 13,000–larger than any American army amassed in one place during the Revolution–to quell the uprising. (The act of mounting his war horse was brief and largely symbolic; Washington made most of the journey by carriage.) Lee joined Washington and the army on its march to Pennsylvania. This was the first and only time a sitting American president ever led troops into battle. Washington abandoned the procession early, however, leaving Alexander Hamilton, the true mastermind of the military response to the insurrection, in charge of the final approach to Pittsburgh.
[link:https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/george-washington-writes-to-henry-lee|

[misanthrope]

80. Or white men below a certain station in life

Just so they know their lack of melanin wouldn't be a salvation in this case.

[Grins]

43. And BLOCKING DC statehood is also about packing the Senate.

With Republicans.

[Beartracks]

76. This right here!

Republicans' cries of "Partisan!" are always particularly partisan.

=========

[KS Toronado]

9. If D.C. had been a state Jan 6th, national guard troops could have been there within minutes

[CaptainTruth]

15. True. Trump wouldn't have been at the top of their chain of command.

The Governor of the state of Washington DC would have been in charge of the DC Guard & there would have been no need to take "Trump's troops" away from him so he couldn't try to order them to occupy the Capital & prevent certification of the vote.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

10. D.C. needs to be a state just to be able to defend itself from certain cultists and insurrectionists

[ShazzieB]

16. "#DCStatehood is really about packing the Senate with Democrats in order to pass a left-wing agenda"

You say that like it's a bad thing..... 🤔

[turbinetree]

17. Antelope have more rights than DC if you think about it............

[Kid Berwyn]

18. Black Americans BUILT DC.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/white-house-was-fact-built-slaves-180959916/

[carpetbagger]

70. And most of the south nt.

[The Magistrate]

19. Rounds Can Soak His Straw-Filled Head, Sir

The Senate is already packed with Republican trash, so that they can inflict a christo-fascist agenda of rural white male superiority on our country, whose people in fact desire most of the middle of the road measures shit-heels like Rounds like to call an 'extreme far-left agenda'....

[CaptainTruth]

23. +1

[KPN]

27. Bingo! The Senate IS packed ... by Republicans:

Right now the 50 GOP Senators represent a whopping 13% less people than the 50 Democrats. They represent 43.5% of the total US population while Dems represent 56.5%.

More facts:

Republican senators haven’t represented a majority of the U.S. population since 1996 and haven’t together won a majority of Senate votes since 1998. Yet the GOP controlled the Senate from 1995 through 2007 (with a brief interregnum in 2001–02 after a party switch by Jim Jeffords) and again from 2015 until 2021.

... consequences for this disconnect:

Five Supreme Court justices (and many more lower court judges) were confirmed by senates where the GOP majority was elected with less popular support than Democrats. Those right-wing hardliners are now poised to use their control over the court to attack voting rights and preserve Republican gerrymanders while striking down progressive policies. This same minority rule has also paved the way for massive tax cuts for the rich under George W. Bush and Donald Trump that have facilitated an explosion in economic inequality.

[link:https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/02/gop-senators-havent-represented-a-majority-since-1996.html|

[KPN]

22. Aside from the total lack of logic, these "founding fathers" arguments are so damn tiresome.

It's their go to whenever their position doesn't align well with "what would Jesus do".

[BobTheSubgenius]

34. I'm much more aligned with the "WWKMD" people.

"What Would Keith Moon Do?" I find it gives me more flexibility in my decision-making.

[KPN]

36. LOL! Thank you for that chuckle ....

[BobTheSubgenius]

59. You are more than welcome.

Bringing a little mirth into someone's day is one of my favourite things in this life.

[aggiesal]

24. I know I'm in the minority on this subject ...

But I don't believe D.C. should be a state.

I am in favor of D.C. having representation in both the House & Senate.

Every US citizen should have representation in Congress.

[CaptainTruth]

28. Interesting. So there would be Representatives in the House...

...& Senators in the Senate, but no state government? No state legislature, no Governor etc.

I'm curious about why you think that's best? It's something I've never considered.

[aggiesal]

52. D.C. was set up as federal land ...

This was done intentionally so that Congress can have control of literally, ready for this, the security of its government and buildings (i.e. its own police force, which didn't do much help on Jan. 6th).

D.C. already has a governmental infrastructure as a city with a mayor and city council, I don't understand the need for a State structure.

I would prefer it stays as a Federal Land to protect itself from what happened on Jan. 6th. but still have representatives in both houses of congress along with electoral votes for the Presidency.
Although what I really don't understand is that DC residence are allowed to vote for the President but no electoral votes. Are their numbers included in the Maryland tally? I don't think they are.

[moose65]

73. DC has three electoral votes

It has the same number of electoral votes that it would have if it were a state. DC residents gained the right to vote for President as a result of the 23rd amendment.

[aggiesal]

77. Thank you for correcting me, I had not realized that n/t

[CaptainTruth]

25. And the 2nd Amendment? Did the Founding Fathers intend that to be...

...an individual right?

If I remember correctly, wasn't it District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 that said it was an individual right, outside of a militia?

Is that really what the Founding Fathers intended Mr Rounds?

[Tommymac]

44. 2cd Amendment was written to placate GA, The Carolina's and Virginia so they could have Slave Cops.

Legalized Armed Gangs to make sure the 3/5th humans didn't escape or revolt don't ya know.

Racism is ugly, cruel, violent, systemic in the USA for 500 years, and has tragic repercussions in all aspects of our modern life.

Today's conflicts come down to Racism vs. Inclusive Humane Human Rights.

Right now it's a tossup which will prevail for the next few generations.

We the People need to work hard and generate an even Bigger Blue Wave in 2022. Failure is NOT an option.

[Geechie]

51. We the People need to work hard and generate an even Bigger Blue Wave in 2022. Failure is NOT

an option.

This should be amplified from the rooftops!

[aggiesal]

57. I really hate the 2nd amendment because everyone ignores the first part of the amendment ...

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State ...
If you read the Federalist Papers (No. 29 & No 46), where they debated this amendment, the Militia is basically what we call the State Guard or the National Guard. So what they are saying is that if you want a gun you need to be in the Guard. They even discussed how the Militia would be "well regulated", by having the Militia attend training once or twice a year.

Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the people at large, than to have them properly armed and equipped; and in order to see that this be not neglected, it will be necessary to assemble them once or twice in the course of a year. [Hamilton - Federalist 29]

Here is an article that I just found that is basically laying out my argument, which is: If you want a gun, you should be in the Guard

I believe this was the Founding Father's true intention for the 2nd Amendment.

It has been bastardized by SCOTUS

[NickB79]

65. Are any of the other 26 Amendments collective rights?

Or is the 2nd the only one out of all of them that is not an individual right?

[peppertree]

26. Wyoming was described by Bill Maher as "a copy-pasted Colorado - without the people"

There should be a 0.2% minimum (660,000 people) for any state.

[Calista241]

31. Most states can be invited by legislation being passed and signed.

But can this happen to DC without a Constitutional Amendment. The disposition and text of the Constitution make DC's status clear as a non state entity. I'm not sure this will be as easy as people seem to want it to be.

[Tommymac]

46. Americans DO Hard things.

It's in our national Character.

[edhopper]

35. S Dakota, wher Sen Rounds is from

Population 800,000, black population 20,000

STFU!

[spooky3]

37. DC is not majority Black. No group is more than 46%.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Washington,_D.C.

[hunter]

38. My grandfather joined the Army Air Corp to get out of Wyoming.

This was after he'd run away to the "big city" of Cheyenne at the age of sixteen because he didn't want to be a miner or rancher.

When World War II ended my grandfather had mysteriously acquired some mad skills with metals that were then considered quite exotic and got a job as an aerospace engineer in Los Angeles.

My parents have cousins who were miners and ranchers, and that's hard work that certainly needs to be done, but overall I think rural people are vastly over-represented, especially all the libertarian freaks supported by carefully disguised welfare programs, and all the hateful racist conservative religious sorts.

Personally, I think the Senate is a historical anachronism, and it needs to have it's powers severely limited, just as the United Kingdom did with its own House of Lords.

[Marcuse]

39. If DC becomes a state the cost of real property and living in general will skyrocket.

[Tommymac]

48. Like it already hasn't?

[Marcuse]

55. True. Wealthy Republicans could dominate the DC electorate within ten years after statehood.

[link:https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/goodbye-to-chocolate-city/|

In the interim DC would need to promote robust zoning laws and affordable housing.

[Tommymac]

56. Hmmm...the supporters of that site are a telling story...The Walton Family??????????????????????????

Corporate America at it's Finest.



'Nuff Said.

https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/about/d-c-policy-center-supporters/

The D.C. Policy Center is grateful for the support of its donors:
Akridge
American Beverage Association
Anonymous
Apartment & Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington
Arnold & Porter
Boston Properties
Brookfield Office Properties
Children’s National Health System
CityBridge Education
Clyde’s Restaurant Group
Consumer Health Foundation
D.C. Building Industry Association
D.C. Chamber of Commerce
Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation
Doggett’s Parking
DowntownDC BID
EDENS
Education Forward DC
E&G Properties
Exelon
The Forge Company
Foulger-Pratt
Gerry Widdicombe
Gould Property Co.
Greater Washington Board of Trade
Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Hines
Holland & Knight
Host Hotels & Resorts
The Hotel Association of Washington D.C.
JBG Smith
MedStar Health
The Meyer Foundation
Miller & Long Co.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Oxford Properties
Park Hotels and Resorts
Perkins Eastman
PNC Foundation
Premium Distributors
Quadrangle
Rand Construction Co.
Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington
Sibley Memorial Hospital
SunTrust
United Bank
Venturehouse Group
Walton Family Foundation
W.C. Smith
The Wilkes Company
Yiting Nan

[Marcuse]

58. Hence its support for "private market rate home building" i.e. gentrification.

The other pressing challenge is east of the Anacostia River. With federal Hope VI grants and other public/private financing, the DC Housing Authority has been replacing former public housing projects such as East Capitol Dwellings and Capitol View Plaza in Ward 7 and Sheridan Terrace and Barry Farms in Ward 8 with mixed-use, mixed-income developments featuring both affordable rentals and home ownership. This has introduced a modicum of greater economic diversity but not, to date, racial diversity. Eliminating such “poverty factories” has helped stimulate the first private, market-rate home building in east of the Anacostia River.

[Blue Owl]

45. K&R

[LaMouffette]

50. If Repubs think DC is too small to be a state, let's add Puerto Rico (if they'll have us) to DC.

Name it Washington D-CPR (The "D-CPR" is to indicate that adding this state will help resuscitate our dying democracy).

And if they say, "You can't do that! Puerto Rico is not connected to Washington DC," we can just point out Hawai'i with its sprawling island topography.

[maxsolomon]

54. PR & UVSI is already a contiguous area with a population of nearly 3 milliion.

That should be a state.

I'd be OK with DC residents getting their own Congressional Reps and voting in Maryland Senatorial elections. It is carved out of Maryland, after all.

[LaMouffette]

64. That makes so much sense, I can't believe it isn't that way already!

I found out just now from a quick googling that DC was created in 1790 out of land from both Maryland and Virginia and after it was created people living there voted in either Maryland or Virginia—wherever they had voted before DC was created.

From the History website:

Washington, D.C. is the ancestral home of the Nacotchtank people, also known as Anacostans. After British colonists violently drove them out of their land, it became part of Maryland and Virginia. In 1790, both of these states ceded the territory to establish the District of Columbia as the capital of the United States. At the time there were about 3,000 people living in D.C.—too few to become a state—and white men who owned property in D.C. continued to vote in either Maryland or Virginia as they had before.

And I found out that the reason representation was stripped from DC back then is the same reason Republicans don't want to give representation back now: fear of black people voting.

Starting in the early 19th century, Congress established a series of different government models that allowed voters to elect some local leaders while stripping them of their previously-held right to vote for president or elect voting members of Congress. Then in the 1870s, Congress stripped D.C. of its local representation too. White congressmen didn’t want newly-enfranchised black men running the nation’s capital.

During Reconstruction, black Americans made up about a third of D.C.’s population. Once black men won the right to vote in local D.C. elections in 1867, they quickly established themselves in the city’s local government. Congress responded by dismantling that government through new laws in 1871 and 1874 that gave the president—whom D.C. residents still couldn’t vote for—the sole power to appoint D.C. leaders. The president could consult with Congress when appointing these leaders, but because D.C. voters couldn’t elect voting members of Congress, they had no way to influence these decisions.

The president, congressmen and many federal staff members remained immune to these changes because they were registered to vote in their home states. D.C.’s restrictions on voting and self-governance only applied to full-time residents. And, like the racist voting restrictions that southern states used to prevent black men from voting after Reconstruction, these restrictions were specifically meant to suppress black political power.

In light of this, I would be more in favor of making DC its own state as a kind of political reparations.

[link:https://www.history.com/news/washington-dc-statehood-reconstruction|

[Warpy]

53. Either cede the predominantly residential areas back to MD or grant statehood

After all we fought a war over taxation without representation, something DC residents have endured for over 230 years.

Given the colossal mess dividing the city would provoke, I think they'll settle for modified statehood, one Senator, one Representative, other city administration staying much as it is.

[DFW]

62. The Founding Fathers never intended for Wyoming to be a state, either

We need to rescind their right to send senators and a House member to Congress, like yesterday.

[BarbD]

68. Didn't realize this was so complicated.

The goal is to give the people of D.C. representation in Congress. Is statehood the only path to that end?

There are a lot of smart people on DU, we should be able to figure this out.

[WarGamer]

69. Obviously that's not a good argument against DC Statehood.

The 23rd Amendment on the other hand... Barf, GoodHair, Handmaiden, Sleepy, Scalito and JR aren't likely to let it slide.

[Ziggysmom]

71. Without real voting senators and congresspeople, isn't DC taxation w/o representation?

[Aussie105]

79. The Founding Fathers never intended . . . .

Unless someone can communicate with the long-dead, this is just an opinion, a biased expression of opinion from whoever said it.

Bet those Fathers would have a thing or two to say about AR15s, as well. Best ask them, if you are talking to them about DC.

[3825-87867]

83. That "argument" might have meaning if not for

the fact the Republican Anachronism named Scalia already decided that the Constitution was a Living Item and should be subject to current interpretation (we can have new fangled guns but no nukes in private homes). Of course, maybe the dishonorable Scalia thought he really talked to the founding fathers to get their opinions on 21st century matters then got the others from the Federalists to visit the fathers for their visions.

Why is it that God talks to idiots, politicians and religious nuts but never to the media?

[moose65]

82. This brings up an interesting point about the Founding Fathers

This isn't ancient history here. We have tons and tons of writings and correspondence from the Founding Fathers. Surely at some point they discussed what to do about the people who actually lived in DC.

Was it their intention that NO ONE would ever live in the district? If so, there's bound to be some evidence of that.

I really find it hard to believe that, in discussing a new nation, they deliberately decided to leave some people (well, some white men at the time) without representation.

Someone on DU who is more versed in this kind of stuff, please chime in!

[Hotler]

84. Corporate tax heavens can hide in Wyoming.

little Cayman Island on the Great Plains.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shell-companies/special-report-a-little-house-of-secrets-on-the-great-plains-idUSTRE75R20Z20110628