NO – Washington D.C. does not warrant being its own state! YES – it deserves representation…

There are several reasons that Washington D.C. does not warrant an entire statehood.

1) D.C. does NOT have the territory or diverse expansiveness that an actual state does.

Let’s discuss considerations below…

Population

• At 700,000 the population of D.C. exceeds two states (Vermont and Wyoming), and is approximate to the entire population of Alaska.
• The population of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico at 3+ million is 4x-5x that of Washington D.C.

Does population justify making Washington D.C. a state? The District of Columbia has a population equivalent or exceeding a number of U.S. states. Doesn’t that warrant being a state?

No, population itself does not warrant statehood.
We’ll show why as we continue…

Territory

Does D.C. have the diversity of a state?  Does it have significant territory to manage?  No.  Washington D.C. is merely a city-district.  It neither manages an expanse of diverse territory and lacks diversity in implementation of it’s population living methods – it is entirely, a “city-life”.

Let’s compare a few states with an approximate population size with the District of Columbia, as well as territory under jurisdiction (in sq miles).

• Wyoming – Population: ~575,000 | Territory: 97,000+
• Vermont – Population: ~625,000| Territory: 9,500+
• Alaska – Population: ~700,000+ | Territory: 665,000+
• N. Dakota – Population: ~750,000 | Territory: 70,000+
• Delaware – Population: ~975,000 | Territory: 2,400+
• Rhode Island – Population: ~1,000,000 | Territory: 1,500+
• Maine  – Population: ~1,350,000 | Territory: 35,000+
• Hawaii  – Population: ~1,400,000 | Territory: 10,900+
  and let’s add…
• Puerto Rico – Population: ~3,200,000 | Territory: 5,300+

And let’s look at how the District of Columbia compares:

• Washington D.C. – Population: ~700,000 | Territory: 68+ square miles

Consider the above for a moment..

At 1,500 square miles, Rhode Island has the smallest territory of the states listed above. However, despite being so small, Rhode Island manages a territory that is still over twenty-two times larger than the District of Columbia .  Vermont and Wyoming, the only two states to have a population size smaller than D.C. manage a territory that is respectively, over 140 and 1,400 times larger than the District of Columbia. That is two orders of magnitude for Vermont, and three orders of magnitude for Wyoming.  We are talking about territories that range from low 4-digit to 6-digit numbers in size vs 68.

Think of it this way…

$68

vs

$9,500

vs

$97,000

When you put the dollar sign in front, you really start to feel the difference in those numbers. One is the cost of a home, one is the cost of a decent used vehicle, and the other is a Comcast internet bill.

—

So why is territory relevant? Territory defines the management of infrastructure, variances in concerns of population from one part of the territory to another. Far more nuanced than just one city.  Why if were were going to look at cities becoming states, the Los Angeles metro, and the NYC/NJ/Greenwich,CT region both offer far more justification for statehood based both on population and territory.

Should we consider statehood for any large flat sprawling city megatropolis?  And what about in the future? When we start building cities upward?  And beyond?

Future

How does “Population” hold up when we look to the future, to where America and humanity as a whole is headed? And let’s put it all into perspective.

• The Bhurj Dubai has a capacity 35,000 people.
• The Great Mosque of Mecca has had a capacity of approx. 750,000, and is being increased toward a capacity of 2.5+ million (so we’re talking about a single structure that holds 2x-3x the population of the District of Columbia.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mosque_of_Mecca
• The Edifício Copan (Copan Building) in São Paulo, Brazil has over 1,160 apartments with 5,000 residents.
• The Jeddah Tower, being constructed in Saudi Arabia, is expected to be the world’s first kilometer tall building.
  
  https://www.listerious.com/facts-about-jeddah-tower/
• The Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel complex in Saudi Arabia is a 21+ million sq ft facility, has parking for 1,000 vehicles, a room with a 10,000 person capacity, and a capacity for 75,000 people.
• X-Seed 4000, was a Japanese design that though never intended to be built, conceptualizes a massive structure that would dwarf the Burj Dubai.   Not merely a slender sliver of a tower reaching toward the sky, the X-Seed concept is a mountain-like monolith intended to be an entire city of up to a million inhabitants.
  
  It is just one a number of conceptual “city-structures” being conceptualized, planned, or proposed.
• [ X-Seed 4000 | Dubai City Tower | Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid | Ultima Tower |

We will not see such structures in my lifetime. However, the structures such as the “Burj Dubai” and others that we see built today are the sort of structures that were being envisioned when the Empire State Building was built.  It is very likely in another 100 years we will begin to see “city-structures” constructed that support populations of hundreds of thousands residing inside.

Which begets the question? Should these future “city-structures” qualify as “states”.

2) Statehood is not the real issue. The real issue for Washington D.C. is Federal representation.

And that is a legitimate issue of concern. Lack of congressional input for American citizens who reside in the District of Columbia.

There are two solutions as I see it…

OPTION 1

Cede the majority of Washington D.C. territory back to Maryland retaining only the core central area of the District as Federal (the area containing the majority of Federal buildings, museums, and memorials).  It’s doubtful this will transpire.

OPTION 2

The following is a position I have long advocated for…

Washing D.C., along with all non-state U.S. territories (i.e. U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, etc.) should be allocated the following:

A) 1 Senator – this would equate to 101 senators, and eliminate the need for variances involving the Vice-President’s vote – “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided”.

B) # of representatives according to the population metrics of distribution. However, unlike states in which the individual seats are voted on. A single vote across all U.S. territories occurs, with the # of representative positions being filled sequentially by correlating top vote recipients.

Based on population, it would likely entail four representatives in the house. With a system in which the four representative slots are filled with the top four vote winners.  We would hopefully see a reasonable mix of representatives from both the District, and the Island territories. And while the smaller four smaller island territories would likely lack political clout against D.C., hopefully those general concerns common to island territories would find representation with the territory of Puerto Rico, who’s population is significantly larger than that of Washington D.C.  And perhaps it would result in the pacific island territories forming a sort of decidingly influential swing vote, as is seen in many parliamentary systems, where a strong smaller party often determines the government by whichever of the two major parties they select to align with.

I feel that option (B) is better than the present push for D.C. statehood, as it would not only provide the District of Columbia with representation. But would establish representation for all U.S. territories – potentially, even future ones.

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