If you missed E.J. Dionne’s takedown Wednesday of the absurdist logic of Republicans opposed to statehood for the District of Columbia, treat yourself. Here is part:
“D.C.,” said Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), “would be the only state, the only state, without an airport, without a car dealership, without a capital city, without a landfill.”
Wow! Just imagine the patriots of 1776 chanting: “No representation without car dealerships and a landfill!” Later, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) offered a friendly amendment to Hice’s comment, saying, “The only dealership there now is a Tesla dealership, which is I think a high-end car.” That settles it, right?
As it turns out, there are several car dealerships in D.C. Hice apologized for wanting to deny 700,000 Americans representation in Congress over that.
And if you think that is not a large enough population to entitle D.C. to two senators, then you would have to take senators away from both Wyoming and Vermont, which have smaller populations still.
But Republicans are ready to argue that the people of Wyoming (which happens to have two Republican senators) are “well-rounded” compared with D.C. residents. This entitles Wyoming folks to rights D.C. folks shouldn’t have.
I kid you not. Last year, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said this: “Wyoming is smaller than Washington by population, but it has three times as many workers in mining, logging and construction, and 10 times as many workers in manufacturing. In other words, Wyoming is a well-rounded working-class state. A new state of Washington would not be.” Funny, I find no provision in our Constitution that gives miners and loggers (or, for that matter, car dealers and landfill workers) special privileges.
The Baltimore Sun Editorial Board last month provided advice to Republicans who suggest instead that D.C. be absorbed into Maryland and/or Virginia in a process called “retrocession.” Considering that the population of D.C. is greater than that of Wyoming and Vermont, “Why not merge the nation’s least populous states or territories when they are contiguous?” the Board suggested. “Call it South Dakoming or, better yet, Wyokota …”
Don’t worry, Wyokotans. You will get to keep your four senators. But pondering having your representation in the Senate cut in half might make you a trifle more sympathetic to Washingtonians who have no representation there at all. Partisanship is no reason to treat the rights of hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans as landfill.