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FlyJunior172 t1_it132oi wrote

Washington DC is a federal district with direct oversight of the federal government. The supremacy clause in the Constitution means that it cannot be a state (and therefore cannot have representation in Congress). DC was also never intended to be a city that people lived in. It was always meant to be the seat of the government, and only the seat of the government.

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NorseTikiBar t1_it157ai wrote

> DC was also never intended to be a city that people lived in.

Uhhhhhhhh, tell the people living in the cities of Georgetown and Alexandria that.

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[deleted] t1_it15j65 wrote

[deleted]

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FlyJunior172 t1_it16fyw wrote

Because that would still put the federal government inside a state. You can’t put the seat of the federal government inside a state. That’s the whole reason DC exists in the first place.

They also tried something similar to what you suggest. Alexandria and Crystal City used to be in DC, but Virginia took the territory back when offered. Maryland declined the same offer.

The simple fact is that DC isn’t allowed to have a voting representative in Congress. If you don’t like that, move to Montgomery County - then you’ll get Jamie Raskin.

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jhughe22 t1_it1dqn1 wrote

This is a really tired set of ahistorical arguments you are making. First, GW himself angled the 10x10 square miles to incorporate Alexandria and Georgetown and he saw Haines Point and the Navy Yard as having great potential for commerce. So the argument no one was meant to live here is just dumb and false. Second the big reason that this idea of the federal govt not being in a state came about is because in 1783 a group of Revolutionary War veterans mobbed congress in Philadelphia and the state refused to help. Congress decided it needed its own enclave after that where it controlled the security. This has been effectively moot since DC home rule in 1973, now the police dept for everything outside of the property lines is MPD and controlled by a locally elected mayor. The federal property in DC operates just like any federal property located throughout the country with federal law enforcement on the grounds. And lots of federal enclaves like district courts and appellate courts exist just fine in states, and guess what, those courts weren’t even mentioned in the constitution because shit changes and people come up with new ideas... Lastly, Alexandria retroceded to Virginia largely because DC was moving to abolish the slave trade and Alexandria was a major slave trading port. It wasn’t a matter of “taking it back when offered.”

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Washingtonian2003-2d t1_it2gkrs wrote

>his has been effectively moot since DC home rule in 1973, now the police dept for everything outside of the property lines is MPD and controlled by a locally elected mayor.

Except that the president can commandeer MPD for federal purposes and there is no direct mayoral-control of the national guard. Plus the US Park Police has full police powers throughout the entirety of DC.

Haines Point did not exist during the life of George Washington. Pierre L'Enfant certainly envisioned what it now Navy Yard to be a commercial hub but I doubt George Washington gave it much consideration. In addition to Georgetown and Alexandria, Bladensburg was a major port town (back in the day).

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jhughe22 t1_it2mdn5 wrote

Don’t be pedantic. The confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia (eastern branch before you try to correct me) was specifically chosen by George Washington for its suitability as a port. The furthest point south is now is Hains Point which is why I used it as a reference.

And do you really think the Mutiny of 1783 is relevant in the age of multiple federal law enforcement agencies operating with the sole purpose of defending federal buildings nationwide? Not to mention it was the president who didn’t order in the national guard on J6 so congress would have been better off in a state. And guess what, Park Police also have jurisdiction in MD, and VA, and are a relatively recent invention. So I’m not really sure what that has to do with anything.

Point is that in our modern era there is a very large federal footprint within states and it manages just fine, whether it’s court houses, executive agency offices, or Interior and Agriculture land.

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