The residents of the District of Columbia want all the voting privileges and power of residents of the fifty states. Is this practical? Is this possible?
Article. I., Section. 8.
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States … To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings
The indispensable necessity of compleat authority at the seat of Government carries its own evidence with it. It is a power exercised by every Legislature of the Union, I might say of the world, by virtue of its general supremacy. Without it, not only the public authority might be insulted and its proceedings be interrupted, with impunity; but a dependence of the members of the general Government, on the State comprehending the seat of the Government for protection in the exercise of their duty, might bring on the national councils an imputation of awe or influence, equally dishonorable to the Government, and dissatisfactory to the other members of the confederacy.
Federalist No. 43 — James Madison explained the need for a “federal district,” subject to Congress’s exclusive jurisdiction and separate from the territory, and authority, of any single state
Learn more about the history and the creation of the District of Columbia from The Heritage Foundation.
No, statehood for the nation’s capital would create grievous problems for the members of each of the three branches of the federal government.
A district implies a government. Examples: public school districts, central appraisal districts, municipal utility districts, hospital districts, public college districts, etc. The residents subject to taxation in a given district may reside in different subdivisions of state governments.
Examples:
- The Rockwall Independent School District covers two subdivisions of Texas State government.
- The City of Royse City includes areas of three subdivisions of Texas state government: Rockwall County, Collin County, and Hunt County
- The Dallas County College District has seven territorial subdivisions.
The residents of the District of Columbia clamor for the right to vote like residents of the fifty states. I agree. Here is how to do it.
By Act of Congress, return civil authority over the territories of the States of Virginia and Maryland to those same states. The residents of those areas would become residents of the contributing states and therefore eligible for all the rights and privileges of the residents of either Virginia or Maryland.
The District of Columbia would then have the authority to require property taxes and sales taxes from persons living within the boundaries of the district. As residents of one of the fifty states, they could vote for the president, two U.S. Senators, at least two U.S. Representatives, and the President, along with all the rights and privileges of state residents to choose statewide and local elected officeholders.
Problem solved.
John White
Rockwall, Texas
John N. White 
