Joe Biden should go all in on statehood for Washington, DC. It will further both voter empowerment and Black Lives Matter. It will also energize voters in non-swing states and could give Democrats an enduring advantage. Don’t think for a moment that Republicans wouldn’t seize these advantages if they were theirs.
Republicans have made disenfranchising voters a surprisingly bold keystone of their electoral strategy. They advocate fewer polling locations, shorter hours, longer lines — each designed to increase the inconvenience of voting. They want fewer participants in what they still call democracy.
Before the Trump era, they did the extra work to maintain a pretense about why their policy preferences suppress voter turnout. They pretended to be concerned about fraud or public expense or private responsibility or local autonomy. Not anymore. Now they are Marie Kondo converts, banishing the clutter of voters who don’t give them joy.
Against that backdrop, Biden’s endorsement of DC statehood would paint a stark contrast. Our nation’s capital has more residents than Wyoming or Vermont. Its residents pay more in taxes collectively than 22 other states. They bear all the burdens of citizenship, while being denied democracy’s most basic privilege.
Our nation was founded on a protest that still applies to residents of the District of Columbia. Their license plates are embossed with “Taxation Without Representation.” When President Trump called in the National Guard to protect the White House against protesters, he didn’t need the governor’s agreement, because DC has no governor.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser responded by changing one of the only things she could. She renamed a street near the protests as “Black Lives Matter Plaza” and she authorized a street mural that has been replicated in Eugene and dozens of other cities. Did I mention that the majority of DC residents are Black? That shouldn’t matter, but it does.
Last week, the House of Representatives voted to make Washington our 51st state. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to bring the bill to the Senate floor sometime after the sun has cooled. No surprise there. No state in the union is as heavily Democratic as the District. Trump garnered 4 percent of the District’s 2016 votes.
It’s safe to say that DC’s statehood would add two Democratic Senators and one additional Democrat in the House. Admission to the union usually requires a two-thirds endorsement from both houses of Congress. Or a Constitutional Convention, requiring support of statehouses across the country.
If Democrats across the country believed that the route for DC’s statehood might require support from their state legislatures, downballot campaigns would gain national significance. Every Democratic vote would be worth fighting for, even in states where the electoral votes were not in play.
Inviting DC’s 700,000 residents into the union would strike a much belated blow for democracy — and for Democrats. Any initiative that drives voter enthusiasm and turnout should please Democrats and worry Republicans. Decisive wins in November could add stars to Old Glory — plural.
DC deserves to be first, but Democrats should continue adding sympathetic Senators by inviting Puerto Rico and Guam into the union as well.
==
Don Kahle (fridays@dksez.com) writes a column each Friday for The Register-Guard and blogs at www.dksez.com.
Tags: No Comments
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.