Tom Toles for April 10, 2014

“You have to wait until you’ll vote the right way.” Just so. That town is FULL of Democratic would-be voters. Voter suppression at its finest.

None of you really know what this cartoon is about, do you?

Alexandria, D.C. became Alexandria, Va. in 1847. Arlington County became part of Virginia at the same time, though originally part of D.C. No reason that Georgetown, D.C. could not become Georgetown, Md. in the same way. The District of Columbia now has a larger population than the United States as a whole had when the District was created. This is not what the Founders had in mind, nor is it a reasonable situation. D.C. should be pared down to the area immediately around the capitol, white house, mall, etc., the part occupied chiefly by federal buildings and parks, and the rest go back to Maryland, so that the inhabitant might actually live in one of the United States. Not that I expect that to happen.

Just give the current half of DC back to the original state, Maryland, like the first half was given back to Virginia.

Al, I never knew any of this. Thanks for the post.

Retrocession is a good idea. Gingrich actually proposed it back in the 90’s but the Dems would not go for it.

“Is there not a concern that the expansion of our Federal Government is why there are some many people living in DC.?” The expansions you’re talking about occured during the Civil War, and the World Wars. The Federal Government, at least in terms of the number of people it employs, has not grown in absolute terms since 1960, and in per capita terms has actually shrunk. The civilian federal workforce reached a peak in 1968-1969 at just over 3,000,000, or about 1.5% of all people in the US. (It peaked again under Ronald Reagan and Bush I, 1987-1992, at over 3,000,000 again, but that was from a larger population.) In 2012, the most recent year I have figures for, the Federal civilian workforce was 2.7 million, out of a total population of 314 million, or less than 0.9% of the total population. Just in terms of number of people on the payroll, the Federal government hasn’t varied much in size in the last 60 years. In terms of the pecentage of Americans employed by the Federal government, it would have it hire close to 2 million more people to employ as large a percentage of the nation as it did in the 1960s. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-employment-reports/historical-tables/total-government-employment-since-1962/ http://www.multpl.com/united-states-population/table Furthermore, the population of DC is only 75% now of what it was in 1950. Then it was 800,000; now it is just a tad over 600,000.

P.S. In 1970, DC was 70% black; today is it 50% black.

or more likely, the weight of our vote will be detrmined by our wealth. THe more money you have, the more speech you are entitled to. Wehn the country was founded, only land-owners could vote. maybe we’ll get back to that.

The population of ALL the United States has expanded many times over since the Founding Fathers created it. That the Capital is that much bigger is because you cannot govern 320 million Americans with the same number of people as you could govern 20 million. The government is large because the US is large. It is necessary and unavoidable, no matter what fantasy pipe dream the Libertarians smoke up.

@GreggW. Most Americans are indifferent or disdainful of your country.

When I was young, there was a use in having DC separate from Maryland — drinking age in Montgomery County was 21, but 18 in the District. I don’t know if that’s a compelling reason, but it seemed so at the time.

I like Canada & Canadians. Even though, as a Bruins fan, the Canadiens sometimes get my goat. Used to travel up there a lot, when I had a job. Despite the fact we invaded their country twice, burned their Capitol (York), they still help us out at times, like in Iran.

“What’s the ratio of immigrants (legal or illegal) to population for the USA vs. Canada?” Canada has a much higher percentage of immigrants in its population than the United States does. Just over 20% of Canada’s population is foreign-born, compared to just under 13% for the United States. “We’re not a democracy; we’re a republic. There’s a difference.” Correct there is a difference: you can have an oligarchy or a plutocracy and still accurately call it a republic. There are democratic republics where the people as a whole are sovereign, and undemocratic republics (like China, or the old Venetian Republic) where the people as a whole are not sovereign, but a limited ruling class holds the power. As there are no pure democracies in the world, what the world calls a democracy is a democratic republic, or sometimes a democratically-ruled monarchy, like Britain. If you are saying that the US is not a democracy but a democratic republic, then you are splitting hairs. If you are saying that the United States is not a democratic republic, but an undemocratic republic, governed by a ruling class to which not all the people belong, then you are making a point. Though I would dispute the accuracy of your assessment. At least for now.

Tigger: What cheering? After the 2000 census, gerrymandering was hand drawn by Tom Delay personally.

Yes, during the bad 3rd year of Star Trek. I remember that episode. It was the “Yangs” and the “Congs”. That was also the year with the faux Nazis and the “Sun” of God episode.

The Democrats have proposed a swap of DC “statehood” for an extra (Republican controlled) district in Wyoming. No takers.