Posted on 05/08/2007 10:29:42 AM PDT by Jacksonville Patriot
Special Report Selling Out the Constitution By Doug Bandow Published 5/8/2007 12:08:14 AM The Republican Party, having squandered its electoral authority by succumbing to the dissolute wiles of Washington, appears to have learned nothing from its defeat last November. Faced with a clear challenge to the unambiguous language of the Constitution, many GOP leaders have abandoned their principles. Particularly shocking is the defection of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). As a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Hatch should view himself as a guardian of the Constitution. Instead, he set a low price for violating the document, a price that the Democratic majority says it will eagerly pay: one congressional seat. At issue is granting voting representation to the District of Columbia. (The District, like American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, already has non-voting delegates; Puerto Rico has a similar resident commissioner.) Adding a seat to Utah is meant to maintain the partisan balance. The measure has already passed the House with 22 GOP votes. Former Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) roamed the halls, calling the measure a civil rights issue.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
They have learned NOTHING from '06.
Repubs still haven’t learned. Sickening at the stupidity! Move the fed govt out of DC, give the land back to MD and presto, no more disgruntlement.
If only one seat were added, there would be an even number of seats in the House which would create the possibility of deadlock due to tie votes.
I would support ceding the residential areas back to Maryland and allowing them to vote in Maryland for a House seat and Maryland's two Senate seates but only if the 23rd amendemnt were simultaneously repealed. DC is not a state, nor is it part of a state, and the US Constitution is very clear that only states have representation in Congress.
UT was just short in 2000. But it’s likely that a Dem state will be just short in 2010. You’re not getting much (2008 at the earliest, maybe only 2010). It strikes me as a bad deal politically and then a constitutional violation as well.
From an earlier post of mine on another thread:
These results were based on official Census Bureau estimates — which may not be correct, and there will be further changes before 2010. However I would expect FL and CA to knock out IL and MN at the very least.
Also, this deal doesn’t correct the problem that caused Utah to not get the seat. The census bureaus still doesn’t count US citizens involved in missionary activities in foreign countries, but does count active duty military stationed overseas.
Time for the GOP to buy DC.
If DC gets a seat in Congress, then Texas should exercise its option to split into 5 states and get 10 Senators. Yeah, a couple would be Dems, but instead of a net +2 for the Republicans, there’d be a +6. See how the Dems like THAT.
Come to think of it, why doesn’t Texas do that anyway. Oh, yeah - a bigger state means more potential for the same limited group of power brokers to skim some bribes off the top. Nevermind.
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