🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <DZOEY.92Sep23204456@frob.eng.umd.edu> dzoey@frob.eng.umd.edu (Joseph Herman) writes:
>
>> 4/ The District isn't the first locality by a LONG shot which has elected
>>        a previously disgraced public official.  Voters in another places have
>>       re-elected jailed officials, convicted sex offenders and KKK members.
>
>This is all true.  I guess the question people seem to be dancing around  is:
>
>What should the standards be for statehood?  Should there be any?
>
>It seems to me that a colony should have a large number of people, a large
>area of land, and be able to contribute something to the Union.
>
>The district fails on all three accounts.  For a state, it has a small
>population.  It has almost no land after subtracting federal property.
>I don't see what it would contribute to the welfare of the United
>States if it gained statehood.  Lawyers?  Bureaucrats?  Politicans?

   Well, yes.  A home for lawyers, bureaucrats and politicians.  Whats wrong
   with that?  The District would be contiguous to the Federal G'ovt and would
   have a chance to restructure its tax base to attract businesses etc. that 
   would enable it to remain self-supporting.  Your criterion for Statehood
   is a little exclusive but the District is more populous than four states.

   Yesterday's post highlighted an area where the District's tax base is
   constantly under attack by the suburban jurisdictions.  The Nat. Science
   Foundation has resisted moving to Arlington for years yet they were
   essentially ordered to do so by Congressmen Wolf and Moran.  Congress voted
   down the funds yesterday to finance the move yet Moran was still insisting
   that the NSF would move.  The city has very little to work with to resist 
   this kind of erosion of its tax base.  Another case in point was the Navy's
   desire to consolidate several departments at the Navy yard for apparently
   solid fiscal reasons.  VA politicians, usually very attentive to budgetary
   abuse in the city, opposed this cost-saving move and killed it.  Agencies 
   in the city who want to move can always find a ready ear in Congress to 
   sponsor it.  The District has little leverage to oppose such moves. 
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