‘Memorial Bridge’
courtesy of ‘dullshick’
Doug Sloan, a candidate for DC’s non-voting representative in the House of Representatives, is calling for DC to shut down bridges and commuter routes into the city for a day to bring Congress’ attention to the issue of DC Statehood.
Oh yeah, because as if the spectre of “Senator Marion Barry” isn’t enough reason for the rest of the country to not want to give DC a vote, shutting commuters out of the city is certainly not going to make anyone feel better about giving DC state-level sovereignty.
Let me bust out a little James Madison for Sloan: The entire reason a federal district was created in the first place was so that the government could provide for its own security without being dependent on (and therefore at the mercy of) a state governor or other local authority. If the Congress met within the borders of a state, a state governor/local council could decline to deploy the local militia/police to defend Congress from attack (which actually happened and directly led to Congress leaving Philadelphia). Or, in theory, a state governor could deploy the National Guard to interfere in congressional affairs (think Arkansas deploying the National Guard to prevent school desegregation). In DC, the National Guard can only be deployed by the President of the United States for exactly this reason.
Using city government resources to blockade the seat of the federal government in order to influence Congress’ decision-making would pretty much demonstrate the exact reason DC isn’t a state.
Tiffany Baxendell Bridge is an Internet enthusiast and an incurable smartass. When not heckling the neighborhood political scene on Twitter, she can be found goofing off with her ukulele, Bollywood dancing, or obsessing about cult TV. She is That Woman With the Baby In the Bar.
Tiffany lives in Brookland with her husband Tom, son Charlie, and two high-maintenance cats. Read why Tiffany loves DC.
