George F. Will
WASHINGTONâThe Democratic-controlled Congress will soon try to transform part of the District of Columbia, which today is about one-eighteenth the size of Rhode Island but 18.9% larger than Denver International Airport, into a state. This will involve theatrical and constitutional difficulties.
The Democratsâ theatrical challenge will be to keep straight faces while insisting that their motivation is altruistic: indignation about D.C. residents paying federal taxes without being fully represented in Congress.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan came within 3,761 Minnesota votes of carrying all 50 states, but won less than 14% of Washington D.C. votes. In 2020, Donald Trump won 5.4% of the D.C. vote. San Francisco will never vote Republican but will do so before D.C. does. Democrats insist, however, that this is irrelevant to them: Their interest is the inviolable principle âno taxation without representation.â