By: Delegate Danielle Walker, West Virginia Democratic Party Vice-Chair
West Virginians know how sacred our voting rights are and how important our voice is in shaping our national discourse. Each day our elected representatives to the federal government advocate and make important decisions on our behalf affecting everything from healthcare, the economy and our national security. As citizens of this country who enjoy all the benefits of citizenship like equal representation and sovereignty, we must stand up and demand statehood for the 712,000 DC residents who have been denied these fundamental rights for far too long.
DC residents are American citizens just like us who share all the responsibilities of citizenship: they sit on juries and fight in our nation’s wars, to name a few. In fact, since World War I, DC has sent nearly 200,000 brave men and women to defend and fight for democracy abroad, losing roughly 2,000 patriots who never made it home. Despite this sacrifice, DC residents have no vote as to whether our country even goes to war.
DC residents pay their fair share in federal taxes. They pay the highest per capita in the entire country and more per year than 22 other states. Yet, DC residents have no vote in Congress as to how those dollars are spent.
DC operates like a state in many ways. It is fiscally responsible and manages a $20 billion budget that has been balanced year-after-year for 27 years. It has a AAA bond rating higher than 32 states.
In spite of all this, DC residents are denied the rights of full citizenship that we and every other American enjoy. DC residents have no voting representation in either the US House or Senate, meaning they have no say in confirming justices to the Supreme Court or how the US government spends our tax dollars.
DC residents also lack sovereignty, a democratic principle enshrined in West Virginia’s state’s constitution. Without the autonomy to pass their own local laws and spend their local tax dollars how they see fit, Congress oversteps its authority by meddling in their local affairs. Representatives from far-away states should not get to determine how DC residents run their neighborhoods – that should be left to the residents of DC and can be resolved through granting DC statehood. This is particularly problematic as it relates to the court system.
In all 50 states, judicial nominees for local courts are handled in the state’s respective state legislature. In DC however, since it is not a state, judicial nominees for local courts require confirmation by the United States Senate – a body that is primarily preoccupied with confirming federal judges, let alone its other business. This leads to increased workloads for overburdened judges, and delays for DC residents in resolving lawsuits, family disputes and criminal cases.
DC should not have to wait for congressional action to staff its own local courts. This puts the safety of the community in jeopardy. DC courts have had to delay roughly 200 cases per year because it lacked a full third of its judicial resources, meaning limited judicial panels could be assembled.
The question of constitutionality has risen surrounding DC becoming the 51st state. Nothing in the Constitution forbids Congress from giving DC statehood. Article I, Section 8, gives Congress the power to exercise exclusive legislation over a federal district, but it only establishes a maximum, not a minimum size for the District. Further, Article IV of the Constitution provides, “New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union.”
Congress has broad authority to admit new states. No clearer example of this was when, ironically enough, West Virginia became a state in 1863. The constitution explicitly states that new states cannot be admitted from existing states without “state legislative consent.” Using this broad authority, Congress found a workaround to this and ultimately carved out West Virginia from Virginia making it the 25th state.
Congress can and should make DC the 51st state. No longer should DC residents be treated like second-class citizens without equal representation. DC stands alone in the democratic world as the only national capital whose residents do not have a say in the national legislature. This clearly doesn’t comport with the ideals of a democratic government of the people, by the people for the people. DC residents are excluded from the great American experiment in self-governance. Now is the time to right this historic wrong.
Our two senators, Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, should support the Washington, DC Admission Act and once and for all return full democracy to the people of the District of Columbia. Call, email or write to our senators today and tell them that the people of DC deserve the privileges of all other American citizens.
Delegate Danielle Walker represents District 81 (Monongalia County) in the WV House of Delegates and serves as the Vice Chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party.
Source: Charleston Gazette
