Only days after the radical left unveiled its crazy court-packing plan, it has already moved on to its next power grab: State packing.
It has been a long time, 62 years to be exact, since the United States added a new state to the union. However, that means little to the modern left, who are apt to pounce on any and every opportunity to increase their raw political power.
And arguably, adding a new state could help cement the left’s tenuous hold on political power, at least in the United States Senate, for a long time to come.
For years, many radical leftists have dreamed of adding the District of Columbia as the nation’s 51st state. Well, in light of recent events, their dream may be coming true. Even if it is a nightmare for the future of the republic, which is teetering on the brink as is.
On April 20, the Biden administration issued a strong endorsement of the plan to make Washington, DC the nation’s newest state.
According to the Biden administration, “The administration calls for the Congress to provide for a swift and orderly transition to statehood for the people of Washington, D.C.”
The Biden White House added, “The administration looks forward to working with the Congress as HR 51 proceeds through the legislative process to ensure that it comports with Congress’ constitutional responsibilities and its constitutional authority to admit new states to the union by legislation.”
In other words, the Biden administration is on-board with HR 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, because it coincides with the administration’s goal of Democratic political domination for decades.
But, before we move forward, perhaps we should take a quick dive into why Washington, DC has not been a state for the past 232 years.
Maybe there is a reason the Founding Fathers insisted on making the nation’s capital a district, not a state, after all.
According to the Constitution, “The Congress shall have Power 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.”
InThe Federalist Papers 43, James Madison explicitly outlined why the nation’s capital should not a state, but should instead be a federal district.
According to Madison, “The indispensable necessity of complete 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 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.”
Put another way, Madison is simply saying that if the nation’s capital were a state, it would invite all sorts of corruption and political malfeasance.
This was the primary reason for the nation’s capital not being in New York or Philadelphia, two places that temporarily housed the national government, before a monumental compromise was made between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, which resulted in the nation’s capital eventually moving to Washington, DC permanently in 1790.
Since 1790, the nation’s capital has been a district, free from the political ties that placing the nation in a state or making it a state itself would present. It has worked relatively well.
There is no need to upset the apple cart at this point. However, the left is desperate for long-term political power and two more Senate seats that they can hold in perpetuity.
If that means shredding the Constitution and disavowing the wisdom and wishes of the Founding Fathers, so be it, in the eyes of the power-hungry modern left.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org )is senior editor at The Heartland Institute.
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