By Marion Edwyn Harrison, Esq.
The www.freecongress.org website is replete with commentaries discussing various campaigns by those who would ignore or attempt to circumvent the Constitution by providing the District of Columbia with voting Congressional representation, the same as it would have were it a State of the Union. The commentary titles somewhat summarize the issues:
“Vote Early, Unauthenticated and Probably Often - D. C. To set A Standard for Devaluation of the Vote” - Jul 16 09.
“The Same Constitutional Prohibitions and the Same Politics of Nonconformity - the District of Columbia as a Fake State” - Mar 3 09.
“United States Senators and a Congressman from the District of Columbia? The Agitation Pragmatically May Be Suspended” - Jul 17 08.
“Taxpayers to Help Finance Doubtfully Constitutional Legislation to Create United States Senators and a Congressman from the District of Columbia?” - Jun 10 08.
“Statehood and Nationhood Gimmickry” - Nov 1 07.
“Functional D. C. Statehood - More Movement, More Confusion” - Apr 23 07.
“Functional D. C. Statehood - the Left Never Gives Up” - Apr 17 07.
“Amid a ‘Raid on the D. C. Treasury’ the Left Continues to Advocate Functional D. C. Statehood” - Nov 15 06.
“The District of Columbia and the Politics of Pandering - The Latest Incarnation” - May 17 06.
If one can believe it, there are two “Shadow” Senators and one “Shadow” Congressman, each claiming the title, sans office or lawful authority. There also is a lawful, if for other reasons wholly questionable, nonvoting Delegate in the House of Representatives.
A further touch of fantasy, humor and/or audacity (to use an “in” noun), however one treats it: The DC Statehood Green Party, a 1999 merger of the Green Party and the DC Statehood Party. Perhaps a notch less fanciful, the D. C. City Council has its Special Committee on Statehood, created in March of this year.
Never mind the Constitution - e.g., Article I, Section 2: “The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen . . . by the People of the several States . . .” Amendment XXIII, supported by Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon, many Democrats and Republicans, ratified by the requisite 38th State on March 29, 1961, gave D. C. residents a Presidential vote. The balance of the Constitution, conspicuously Article I, Section 8, and legislative history are clear that the Founders wanted a geographically small non-state, non-voting situs as the Nation’s Capital. The area across the Potomac River was ceded back to Virginia in 1846, as the non-governmental, non-ceremonial remaining portion could be ceded back to Maryland if the agitators sought only political equality with residents of the fifty States.
The present momentum is minuscule, dwarfed by leftist efforts to socialize medicine and more fully invade federalism by Feds’ dominance. Given the complexion of the present Administration and sizeable liberal majorities in the 111th Congress, who knows whether the momentum will be invigorated.
Marion Edwyn Harrison is President of, and Counsel to, the Free Congress Foundation.
