Comments by "" (@RedXlV) on "The Big Trouble if DC Becomes the 51st State" video.

@openmoviearchives7381 DC has over 200 years of unique history separate from Maryland. And has a larger economy than most states. It's also unconstitutional to alter a state's borders without approval of that state's legislature, and Maryland flatly rejects being "given" DC. Presumably because if DC were returned ot Maryland, that city with 200 years of separate history from Maryland would become the largest part of Maryland (displacing Baltimore as the largest city). You're going to be hard-pressed to convince any state that they should absorb a city where none of the residents have any ties to the state nor want to have any ties to the state, yet those same residents would instantly become the dominant political faction within the state due to their sheer numbers. It would be like if the "compromise" to give Puerto Ricans representation in Congress without making PR a state was offered, of instead attaching PR to Florida. Florida would never go for that either.
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There's nothing to say that law has to remain in place. It's a really stupid law, too. It should be repealed, and the size of the House of Representatives significantly increased.
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@poet7158 No, changing the size of the House of Representatives would not require an amendment. Just an act of Congress. Since that's how the current size of 435 was set.
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@sebaschan-uwu The current House of Representatives is comically small for a nation of over 330 million.
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"Balance" is not the same thing as accuracy. Retrocession of the southern portion of DC to Virginia really was all about slavery.
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@evanjohnson1299 There's nothing in the Constitution suggesting such a thing.
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If democracy were ever established in China, cities like Beijing and Shanghai would absolutely end up being provinces (or the equivalent) in their own right. Just like how in Japan, Tokyo is a prefecture in its own right. And in Germany, they have Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen as states in their own right.
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The filibuster exists because the Senate is a fundamentally asinine body. People who want to keep it in place pretend that it's some grand tradition, but in reality it was created completely by accident. And the Senate didn't actually realize they had created a rule that would allow filibusters until decades later. When this was discovered, the filibuster was used primarily to prevent anti-slavery bills from ever getting to the floor for a vote. That is the "grand tradition" of the filibuster.
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@ChazWalkerWonders That's a fundamentally ignorant view.
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@Psycho-go5yr Texas's constitution does not in fact allow any such thing. It's a popular myth in Texas, but it's not actually true. New states can only be created with the approval of Congress. Splitting Texas would be subject to that requirement the same as splitting any other state would be. And in terms of DC, "shaking up the status quo" is desperately needed because the status quo is oppressive.
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@Psycho-go5yr Why not Puerto Rico too? We absolutely should add Puerto Rico too. The United States should not have colonies. Puerto Ricans have repeatedly demanded statehood and should be allowed to have it. And you've made it clear that the you only care about the power of the Republican Party. Along with making rather racist assumptions that it's just automatic that any state with a non-white majority would automatically elect only Democrats. Puerto Rico routinely elects Republicans now, why do you assume that wouldn't also apply to their House and Senate delegations if they became a state?
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@jeradw7420 The states being "equal" is a fundamentally terrible idea and prevents equality of the people.
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That "indirect influence" amounts to almost nothing.
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@ChazWalkerWonders "Never getting anything done" is not a good thing.
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In reality, that's a "solution" where everybody involved loses. Maryland doesn't want DC added to their state, and DC doesn't want to be added to Maryland. The only "winners" would be tiny rural states like Wyoming, who don't want the check to their disproportionate power in the Senate that would be come from adding new states.
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It's not a valid concern at all. It was always a silly concern that reflected deeply skewed priorities.
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@dudewatevs56 That entire narrative of "the entire nation being dominated by a single city" is complete and utter nonsense.
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@dudewatevs56 Because how would the city "dominate" the government? Just by existing? Does Maryland's location surrounding DC give it any special power over the federal government? Of course not. Neither would DC had such a power if granted statehood.
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@dudewatevs56 If DC becomes a state, all of the federal buildings would not be part of the state. It would simply be surrounded by the state. Just like DC is now surrounded by Maryland. What's so hard to understand?
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@linkplays2952 224 years of history being not part of any other state isn't good enough reason for for DC to be its own state?
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@blakekaveny And it absolutely should be changed. Having locked in the size of the House at 435 seats for over a century is insane, given how vastly larger the US population has grown in that time. The House should have to grow with the US population.
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In reality, you're just desperately flailing for a reason to not make them a state, solely because you're a supporter of the political party that's unpopular in DC. The residents of DC have no connection to Maryland, and Maryland also rejects the idea of being "given" that territory and population. Maryland doesn't want it because those DC residents (who again, have no connection to Maryland, having been separate from the state for centuries) would instantly become a powerful political force within the state. Because DC would become the largest city in Maryland.
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@TainyaGaming Making DC part of Maryland would be unconstitutional unless approved by Maryland. And Maryland won't approve it, because they don't want a bunch of outsiders to suddenly become Maryland's largest population center. The only way you'd be able to force such a transfer against Maryland's will is if you pass a constitutional amendment transferring the residential parts of DC to Maryland. Statehood for DC is in fact the far easier and more reasonable solution.
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And this is a vestige of colonialism that needs to end. The US territories should be given either statehood or independence, according to their preference.
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@Under-Kaoz No. Population is the only thing that matters. Land size is irrelevant, and Maryland does not own the land.
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Why? The people living in DC have no connection to Maryland. And Maryland doesn't want them either. It would be both undemocratic and unconstitutional (because one of the things specifically forbidden by the Constitution is altering a state's borders against its will).
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Why? What's the benefit of that instead of simply giving them actual statehood?
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@grahamreece519 In fact, repealing the 23rd Amendment would be quite easy. After all, red states would just have to be told "if it's kept in place, that means Joe Biden gets 3 electoral votes automatically".
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Why? The idea of the VP being a second Senator for DC instead of somebody actually elected by DC is a simply bizarre idea.
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@marcusbrown188 I think about 1500 reps would be appropriate for a nation as large as the United States.
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That's absurd. Moving the capital around to wherever is the most "politically balanced" part of the country is an enormous expense for absolutely no gain.
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@commander8625 Telling people they can only have their rights as Americans if they pack up and move to another part of America is insane. The proper reaction to such a suggestion is to do something with that shovel you offered that's very different from digging a hole.
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@ricardoxavier827 Nah, rather than 1 Senator per state, make it zero Senators per state.
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Yes, that was "the whole point of DC". Which illustrates that some of the founding fathers' priorities were actually really stupid.
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