Behind Closed Doors

I am going to depart from my customary avoidance of politics today, so I want to warn those of you who are supporters of the current administration in advance. I prefer that everyone read this column, so I offer you an alternative for you. Merely reverse the party names and consider how you would feel about the topic if the opposite case were true.

I received another of those urgent messages last week asking (no, demanding) that I call my representative in the House of Representatives about a piece of proposed legislation that would give Washington, DC–population 660,000–one representative in that body of Congress.

In an effort to bring the recalcitrant Republicans on board, a concession was going to be made allowing one extra representative from Utah, bringing the House membership to 437. The reason for these two strange actions might not be obvious to you, so let me enlighten you.

The population of Washington is heavily Democrat by about 3-to-1 over Republicans or any other party. That would produce a virtual permanent Democrat seat in Congress. However, Utah has a similar but opposite weighting of Republicans over Democrats. The extra representative from Utah, most likely to be Republican, would balance the mix in the House.

The bill to add the two extra representatives never even came to a vote, however, so my call was not needed. It died before being voted on due to another provision of the bill that was so distasteful to the Democrats that they refused to bring it to a vote. That controversial add-on was a repeal of the strict gun laws that apply to all Washingtonians.

Well, what really happened here? It seems like a small victory for Republicans and an equally small defeat for Democrats. It only involved two seats out of 437, and they were evenly balanced, weren’t they? Why was Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the Majority Leader, so incensed over it?

Here is the reason it is so critical. Once Washington, DC has a representative in the House of Representatives, there will be a precedent set to change the status from District to State. That’s right, the city of Washington could conceivably become our 51st state.

And what do you suppose happens when Washington, DC becomes–well, not Washington State, that name is already taken–Columbia, our new state? The new guys become eligible for representation in the Senate as well as the House. Yes, two new senators would be authorized, and guess from what party they would come. Of course they would be Democrats. Can you even imagine a Republican ever winning in that minority stronghold?

Still another possible outcome would be a request that Puerto Rico also be granted representation and statehood. And then Guam might follow suit. Pretty soon all of our territories and protectorates will want that, too. Again I ask, what party do you think would have a heavy weighting among those populations?

This is just too much of a “teachable moment” for me to pass it up. Once again we have some unintended consequences coming into play, except these are definitely not “unintended.” I know that lots of we, the people might have been fooled, but I doubt that anyone in Congress had the wool pulled over their eyes.