WEBVTT - Why Is DC Not A State? 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.319 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:16.480 Clark and there's Charles w Chuck Bryant and it's just 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:19.119 the two of us. And that's okay because we are 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:22.960 here and we are ready to do this thing and 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:25.680 it's gonna be good stuff. You should not. That's right. 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:30.360 Waiting into political waters yep, no way around it, no 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:32.400 way around it. What does that DC license plates say? 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:37.800 Taxation without representation? That says it all, it really does. 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.479 I love it because it's so subversive, you know. That's right. 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.519 We're talking about DC statehood and why the District of 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:48.479 Columbia it's not a state when they have seven hundred 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:52.320 thousand roughly people living there, about two hundred and fifty 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:56.800 thousand of which were born and raised there. Uh, and 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:00.480 yet they don't get the benefits of statehood we'll talk 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:09.400 about for reasons that are kind oft I think. So. Um, yeah, 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.119 if you aren't aware, if you live in d C. 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:18.319 You you have some voting rights, but mostly, um, you 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:22.640 are very much limited or restricted as far as like 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.280 what you're allowed to do to participate in democracy, at 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.399 least compared to other states, right, and all of this 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:33.320 was like because of a layer, layer after layer after 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:39.640 layer of rules and laws and regulations that basically prevent 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:45.160 DC residents from voting or participating like other other residents 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.280 of other states. Um. And so this idea that like, wait, 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.440 this isn't right has been something that people have been 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.600 talking about for a very long time, and yet we 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.360 still can't reach this finish line to make d C 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.120 the fifty first state, um, which a lot of people is, 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.840 including most the people who live in d C want 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.360 they want to become the fifty first state. They want 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:06.160 to be a state, they want to be treated like 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:09.080 a state, and they just can't quite get it to 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.880 the finish line. But it's possible, Chuck, that we're close, 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:17.920 closer than ever, actually closer than ever, but still not 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.840 too close. If he asked me, well, we'll we'll we'll see. 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.320 I think we'll see. Yeah, we'll see. So let's talk 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.120 about how DC was even established and why all of 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.240 this is is like this hodgepodge of weird laws and 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:33.080 rules and where it came from. Yeah, so we didn't 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.560 have a capital as a country at first? Uh for 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.800 about um, I guess from seventeen seventy six to eighty nine, 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:45.000 the Continental Congress met in different places. They met in Philly, 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:47.840 of course, they met in Maryland. Some they met New 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.440 York City. Some they even met in New Jersey some 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.320 believe it or not. And in sev seven and the 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:58.320 Philadelphia Convention, they wrote the Constitution and said, you know, 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.359 that's really kind of beefed up the oral government, and 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:05.240 said we need someplace that's like clearly ours that we 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.840 will meet, that is permanent. And it was written right 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:14.720 there in the Constitution, Article one, Section eight, Class seventeen. Yes, 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:17.960 and um. Exactly where they were going to put this 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.440 new capital was a huge debate, Like everybody just presumed 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.160 it would be someplace like New York or Philadelphia, where 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:27.320 it was already you know, the populations were very established 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:30.320 and large, and where they had already written the Constitution, 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.840 and where a lot of the early founding fathers were from. Um. 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.040 But the Southern States said, hey, man, we don't want 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:39.080 the capitol all the way up there in New York 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.480 or in Pennsylvania. We need it somewhere that's a little 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.120 closer to the middle of this country. This string of 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:47.160 thirteen colonies along the eastern seaboard. So they came up 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.120 with what's called the Compromise of seventy, which said, Okay, 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:54.120 we'll place this capital further south towards you guys, but 0:03:55.000 --> 0:04:00.840 you have to say that the colonial um debts obligations 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:04.360 that were accrued during the Revolutionary War, we get to 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.160 move those over to them to the federal government's responsibility, 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.600 because we these northern colonies are swimming in debt and 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:13.360 we just can't pay them off. So one of the 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:15.280 first things we have to do when we established this 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:19.960 country is laden it with revolutionary war debt, right. Uh. 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.359 And with the Residents Act, they said, you know, we 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:26.760 literally need land, like physical space, So Maryland, Virginia, pony up. 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:29.800 You've got to give up each a little bit, uh 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.039 to create this area. And um, I think they eventually not. 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.360 I think I know they eventually got back Alexandria Virginia 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.560 in eighty six, But initially that was a part of 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:43.880 the uh, the tranche of land and sort of the 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:49.039 very I think from the very beginning they weren't a 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:54.080 state because of something that happened that kind of feels 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:58.839 a little more contemporary of the past couple of recent years. 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:04.160 The the Pennsylvania Mutiny of seventeen eighty three when these veterans, 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:09.280 hundreds of veterans, stormed Congress and said, you know, this 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:11.680 is what we want. They were angry, we want back Bay, 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.359 we want this and that, and the Pennsylvania Executive Council 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.960 would not send the state militia to protect Congress and 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.320 they had to move to New Jersey temporarily. And so 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.680 they were like, this is not good. We need to 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.120 be able to be in charge of our own um 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:31.000 defense really, and so we need a federal land that 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.120 is not a state so we can have our own uh, 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.800 our own defense system, our own soldiers system. They just 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.040 saw that if it ever came down to, you know, 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.760 a federal versus a state kind of situation again, that 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.200 they couldn't rely on a state militia, so that capital 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:48.960 couldn't be associated or affiliated with the state, had to 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.800 be a stateless capital that was its own territory. It 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.359 made sense, It definitely did um and and it was 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.599 all because of that Pennsylvania Mutiny of seventeen eighty three, 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:01.880 because war veterans were oh back pay and they were 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.280 mad about it, and we're chasing Congress all over the country. 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:09.159 For it. So, um, so that's why d C was 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:12.400 stateless to begin with, like that, so that the federal 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.200 government could have its own jurisdiction over this this area, 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:19.560 over the capital, that's right. And uh in eighteen hundred 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.560 Congress set up there in Washington, d C. And like 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.200 I said, Alexandria is part of it. First Georgetown was 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.920 and still is, and they were you know, there were 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:30.640 port towns, so there was a lot going on there. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.719 But for the first um several decades, d C was 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:38.520 pretty rural, uh, and didn't really start growing a lot, 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.000 and we have some population breakdowns, but it was really 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:46.280 post Civil War is when the population boom happened there. 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:50.000 I think in eighteen hundred there was eight thousand people there, 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:54.320 eighteen sixty seventy thousand, eighteen eighty a hundred and seventy 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.359 five thousand. That's a big jump. Yeah. And these are 0:06:57.480 --> 0:06:59.320 you know, people that work for the government, and these 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.600 are also uh, free people now that came up from 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.360 the South set up presidents there and so d C 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:09.280 for many many years had a majority black population and 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.040 kind of right away, Uh, the federal government was like, 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:17.760 well that won't do either, yes, And so the reason 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.000 that they were not okay with it was because well, 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:23.440 at first, so people in DC have been agitating for, um, 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.920 what's called home rule, which is just basically, you're allowed 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:32.440 to self determine your own government. You can elect your 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:37.080 own officials. They can pass laws other people can't, like 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:39.240 out other people in the country can't tell you that 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:44.560 your laws are invalid. Um just basically the right to 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.600 sovereignty that any state holds right. So people have been 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:50.920 interested in that in d C since the outset. But 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.560 as you said earlier, it was a really rural and 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:57.480 small population for a while, so it didn't really matter 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.520 as much because it affected so few people. But as 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:03.000 the population grew it became more and more of a 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:07.080 pressing issue until um, they finally said, and I think 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:10.680 eighteen sixty seven, you know what you're you're you're totally right, 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.880 like we should we should let d C residents vote, 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:19.520 And they passed an act that said everybody in DC 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:23.080 can vote. And by saying everybody in d C, or 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.679 I should say every man in DC can vote, Um, 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.960 they were for the first time in American history, enfranchising 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.280 black men to vote. Like there had never been a 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.480 law that allow black men to vote in the history 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:38.600 of the country to that point, and that was the 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.840 first one that was ever passed. And so starting in 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:46.720 eighteen sixty seven, uh for a full three long years, UM, 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.760 black men were allowed to vote in d C for 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.720 things like federal federal federal government positions like the president 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.040 and vice president. Right. And when I said that won't 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.920 do that's what I was talking about, they uh quit 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.200 realized that you have a large city or you know, 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.600 a larger city now that is being controlled. You know, 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:08.600 there's a lot of political power with black people for 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.920 the first time, and this alarmed them. And so they said, 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.560 all right, we're going to replace this with a federally 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:19.280 appointed commission. And they did that really quickly, and it 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.760 was exactly for that reason. It was to read disenfranchise 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.240 black people. Yeah. There's a famous quote from a senator 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:30.320 named John Tyler Morgan who was describing it years later. 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:34.800 Why why they repealed that law and appointed that that 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:38.960 federal commission to rule the city? He said, And I'm 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:42.600 sorry for this, everybody. After the Negroes came into the district, 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.880 it became necessary to deny the right of suffrage entirely 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:48.560 to every human being, to burn down the barn to 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:51.199 get rid of the rats. The rats being the Negro 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.640 population and the barn being the government of the District 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:56.960 of Columbia. So what do you said? He said it 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.480 out loud, he did, and wrote it down like it's 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:03.240 in quote there. So he Um, what he's saying is 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.400 is that to keep black people from voting in d C, 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.240 they had to remove the voting rights of everybody. Um. 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.080 And that's what they did. And what's crazy is that's 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:19.199 how it has generally remained for hundred and fifty years 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:25.120 now for basically the same reason. Unfortunately. Yeah, it was 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.160 from the eighteen hundreds until nineteen seventy three, like I 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:33.240 was born and alive, when Washington, d C. Was still 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.280 a territory that had a governor and a ruling counsel 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:41.640 that the president appointed. Uh, they did have a single 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.760 delegate to Congress. Uh, and but that they were not 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.040 given a congressional vote. So there was a delegate that 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.839 could do the things that delegates do. Uh, they can 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.480 even introduce articles, but they can't even vote on their 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.880 own articles. No, no, they can. They can beyond can 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.560 middies and all that, like almost everything that a House 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.040 member can do as congressional member could do, but just 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.480 not vote. It's a non voting delegate. And so in 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.400 that way, like, yes, you had somebody who could advocate 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.000 for d C, but the the people of d C 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:17.959 couldn't elect somebody who could go vote on their behalf 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.680 in the House of Representatives. And that's just the house. 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.720 They have nobody and never have had a single representative 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:28.199 in the Senate. So the only representation that DC has 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.680 has is a single non voting member of the House 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:36.360 of Representatives. And that's it. Yeah, like constituents without a 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:39.840 real say at the end of the day. It gets 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.280 even far far worse than that, you know, because I'm 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:44.000 sure people are like, well, come on, you know, how 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.520 much does that affect these people? Really? Um, Well, we're 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:49.840 gonna explain exactly how it affects him. But one of 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:52.880 the big ways, if it stands out to me, is 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.880 that when um, the Home Rule Act was passed in 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.080 ninety three that said, okay, you guys can elect your 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.839 own mayor and you an electoral own city council. Bully 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:06.080 for you. There's this thing that we have to to 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:08.520 tell you about. Though it's not all you know, great, 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:13.240 every single law that gets passed by you in your 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:18.040 town is subject to Congressional review. It doesn't actually become 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:22.320 law until Congress says that your laws that you came 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:25.760 up with in past yourselves are okay. And that means 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:30.760 that any congress person, any House member from anywhere in 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:33.480 the country, who is offended by one of your laws, 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.040 who takes an issue with one of your laws, can 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:40.120 strike that law down basically single handedly by attaching a 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:43.600 rider to your annual budget. And so if you don't 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:46.800 like that writer, well then you you can do without it, 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.000 but you have to do without the money that makes 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.760 up about your operating budget every year. That's the kind 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:55.760 of like a drag Toonian rule that Congress holds over 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.680 d C to this day. Yeah, and this is why. 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:01.480 And you know, unfortunately this does wait into politics, and 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.719 we'll get into that more later. But like it is 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.480 kind of purely for partisan politics why d C is 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.880 not a state at this point. Uh. And it's the 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:16.559 ironies are pretty rich here in that. UM. Generally Republicans 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.240 do not want d C to become a state. UM. 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:23.559 But they're also the same party who decries government overreach 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:26.959 in states states rights. And I guess they'll say well, yeah, 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:28.960 but it's not a state. But it is certainly government 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.920 overreach when you have the local people of a terror 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.640 of a district voting there for their own laws that 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:39.199 their constituents want, but the federal government can override those. 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:42.120 And again you might say, like, what laws, who cares? What? 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:44.280 What's the problem? How are these people actually really harmed 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.760 with that? Well, there's actually like a lot of laws 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.319 that DC has passed that Congress has either dragged its 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:53.600 feet on or overturned that have actually harmed people. Um 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:57.320 d C had a needle exchange program to try to 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:01.920 slow the spread of HIV um and it was overturned 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:06.520 by Congress in and was not allowed to happen again 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.720 until two thousand seven. And it turns out that when 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.280 that was finally allowed to start up again, the HIV 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:15.079 infection rates in the city and by the way, d 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.120 C had one of the highest rates of HIV. After 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:21.040 its needle exchange program was was banned by Congress, um 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:25.440 it's HIV rates dropped by sev and an estimated hundred 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:29.600 and twenty people were prevented from being infective with HIV 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:33.240 in just two years after the needle program was allowed 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:35.640 to to start up again in two thousand seven. There's 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:39.480 also ones on abortion access COVID nineteen they got the 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.280 short end of the stick as far as funds go. Um. 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:44.920 And then there's another one where, uh, they tried to 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:49.440 repeal their sodomy law, which outlawed sex between men back 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.880 in one and Congress didn't let it actually go through 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:57.480 until there's just been a lot of stuff where basically, 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:00.320 if you have somebody in Congress who does and like 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:02.560 the idea of d C, the people of d C 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:07.160 having um legalized marijuana or being able to use taxpayer 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.520 money for abortions, like DC doesn't get to do that 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.240 because the writer gets attached to their budget and they 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:15.680 have to they have to take it. And that COVID 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.120 thing you were talking about, they um, every US state 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.120 got one point to five billion dollars in aid, but 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:24.600 Congress cut that in half for d C even though 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.800 they had Well, first of all, they're like, well, we're 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.480 bigger than Vermont, uh and like one one other state too, right, 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:38.000 And they're almost the same size as Alaska, UM, North Dakota, 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:41.360 South Dakota, and Delaware population wise. Yeah, and they were 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:43.880 I think had more confirmed COVID cases at the time 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.720 than nineteen other states, yet they got half the aid 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:51.200 just just because. Yes, so it's it's my numbing and 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:53.520 crazy and if you like, just put yourself in the 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.800 position of somebody who's a like interested in the political 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:00.800 process and lives in d C and the idea that 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:05.000 your city can pass a law huge like with huge support. 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:11.000 I think they're marijuana legalization, UM law passed with supportive voters, 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:14.480 and somebody from Arizona could come along and be like, Nope, 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.320 you're not doing that. That law doesn't go through. I'm 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.240 attaching that as a writer to your your annual budget. 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.960 How outrage inducing would that be? You know, how how 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.560 frustrating would it be at the very least. So, yes, 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.600 it actually is harmful um to the to the democracy 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:33.480 of Washington, d C. And their their self determination and 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:37.240 their ability for home rule. UM. The situation as it 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:40.200 stands right now, all right, well, let's take a break. 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.320 I think it's pretty clear where we stand here, and 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:46.720 we'll talk about the electoral College, just that little thing 0:16:46.840 --> 0:17:19.520 right after this. Alright, So, uh, people have been allowed 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.080 to vote in Washington, d C. For elections for presidential 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.640 national elections for a long time now, uh. In nineteen 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:30.000 sixty one, they Radifford, that Radifford ratified the twenty three 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:35.200 Amendment to the Constitution that was specifically for d C 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:39.240 electoral College votes in the presidential election. That was when 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:42.080 they started to be able to vote for president vote 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:46.960 at all. That's right. So, so sixty sixty years is 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.720 how long the residents of DC have been able to vote. Yeah, 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:51.200 I mean when I said quite a while, it didn't 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.879 mean on the like the beginning of time scale, just 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.480 sort of oh, I didn't know if you're being facetious 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:58.360 or not. No, no no, no, I mean for many decades now, 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.240 but not Yeah, it's a guess. In that context, it's 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.119 it's an outrage for sure. And so that that that 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:06.920 twenty three amendment. That's the whole purpose of the twenty 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.800 three Amendment is to basically say, yes, DC can now 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:15.120 vote in presidential elections, and they can contribute electors, um, 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.720 but they can never have more electors than the number 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.800 of electors that the least populous state in the United 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:25.160 States has. It doesn't matter how many people DC could 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.800 swell to. It probably couldn't handle it, but it could 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:31.639 swell to the size of a two million population and 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.560 it doesn't matter. You get your three electors, right, and 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.080 it's always going to be three at the minimum because 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:39.879 you're a number of electors are based on the representation 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:42.879 you have in the in the House and the Senate, 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.280 so you always every state has two senators and every 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:48.560 state has at least one congress person, and d C 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.280 probably would always still have one congress person anyway, that's 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:56.000 how many Alaska has, in Vermont and Delaware like these are, 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.800 it's just based on population, so they will probably always 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:04.160 have three electors UM. And so those electors ever since 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:09.120 the I believe the nineteen sixty four election, the first 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:14.360 time DC ever contributed electors to the Electoral College UM, 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:21.000 those those electors almost invariably go towards the Democratic candidate, 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.920 right Like DC is one of the first states that 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:29.200 gets called on like those electoral maps during every presidential election, 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:32.320 and they go towards the Democrat. So if you've made 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.840 DC a state that's not gonna be a huge change, 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:38.080 like nothing's going to change, You're they're still going to 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:40.800 have their three electoral votes and they're probably going to 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:44.119 go towards the Democratic candidate for president. They're only going 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.600 to have one congress person, and that one congress person 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:49.920 will probably be a Democrat. But it's kind of a 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:51.720 drop on the bucket when you're talking about like four 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.280 hundred and thirty or sixty I can't remember however many 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:58.760 are in the House right now. But when you talk 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:02.840 about the Senate, now we get to the problem, the 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:06.840 partisan political problem with why DC is not a state, 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.760 because d C is and has been for a very 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:13.880 long time, majority black as far as the population goes, 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:17.160 in as far as their voting base goes, traditionally, Black 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:21.359 voters lean Democrat. That's as far as voting history goes. 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:25.240 That's typically the case for the last several decades at least. 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:29.520 And if you have to new senators that just did 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:31.679 not exist before, the Senate would go from a hundred 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:34.560 senators to a hundred two senators, and those two senators 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:38.480 were almost guaranteed to be Democratic senators. Will imagine what 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.359 two extra Democrats senators would do right now if you 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.520 had two more Democrats in the Senate than what we 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:50.840 have right now. Now we've reached exactly now, we've reached 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.159 the reason why DC is not being allowed to be 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:56.520 a state and why it's a partisan political matter. Right, 0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:00.920 and here is where you're going to get into. UM, 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:05.800 to me, some very disingenuous arguments. Uh, that are just 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:09.119 it would be so much easier if they just talked 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:13.159 about what the reality was instead of disingenuous arguments that 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:17.040 everybody knows isn't the real reason. Uh, it's just that 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:19.879 That's the stuff I hate about politics in this country 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:24.800 is no one's talking about the what the real situation is. UM. 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:26.800 You know, some people they'll try and call it out, 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:30.560 but they So there are sort of two avenues that 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:33.359 have been bandied about over the years. Is basically the 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:38.119 two two main paths for uh, making DC estate. And 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:41.240 one is what you what we need to do? Is 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:43.320 the idea is that what we need to do is 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:47.520 shrink what is called the federal district to only the 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:50.840 buildings that are under federal control, like the White House, 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.800 in the Capitol Building and you know kind of everything there. 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:56.919 D c all the all the government buildings basically and 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:00.000 just make it that. Um. But no, no one lives 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.600 is there except for you. No one lives in these buildings. 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.400 These are office buildings except for the White House where 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:07.600 the president and first family live and maybe some of 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:11.160 the staff So one of the disingenuous arguments that comes 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:15.439 up is, well, we can't have a situation where there's 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:19.439 only three or four people, like let's say, living in 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:25.520 these places that get this kind of representation. Yeah, that's 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:29.560 completely disingenuous. Sure, and especially if that that president is 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:33.520 an incumbent running for election again, then that incumbent president 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:37.640 would have three electoral votes to cast for themselves. Right. 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:41.080 So so on paper, you're like, oh, yeah, I could 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:43.359 see that being a problem. Let's just give up because 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.360 of the twenty three Amendment and that cork that it attributed, right, 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:49.119 But there are a lot of like workarounds too that 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:52.480 people are like, no, that's that's a ridiculous argument, right, 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:56.600 Like the president could in fact usually does vote uh 0:22:56.760 --> 0:23:00.240 absentee from their own home state. That's that's one. Then, 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:03.520 so if no electoral votes are cast, or if no 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:07.040 votes are actually cast in the district of Columbia, then 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:10.200 you there's no electors to be given, right, so you'd 0:23:10.240 --> 0:23:13.440 have those three electors that just never didn't go to anybody. 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:17.199 That's one. That's one solution. Um. Another one is to 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:19.480 just take those three electors and give them to whoever 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:23.600 wins the popular vote regardless. Yeah, and then a lot 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:25.560 of people are like, no, you just repeal the twenty 0:23:25.560 --> 0:23:27.320 three amendment if you make to see a state like 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:29.680 it's a one two punch, like they that's just how 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:32.360 it has to be. That's right. And we'll talk more 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:36.320 about some some disingenuous arguments and deconstruct him as we go, 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:38.520 but that's the one that seems to be bandied about 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:42.000 most most commonly. Right. Yeah, and you know, we've talked 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:45.679