Weekly Opinion Editorial
RETROCESSION
by Steve
Fair
Washington,
District of Columbia (D.C.). was established in 1789 as a federal district
under exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. D.C. sets on the Potomac River, across from
Virginia. It shares a land border with Maryland. In 1846, Congress reduced the size of D.C. by
returning land originally ceded by Virginia, including the city of Alexandria. That action is known as retrocession.
D.C. is
divided into quadrants that are centered on the Capitol Building. As of 2020, the population of D.C. is 690,000. Citizens elect a mayor and 13 council members,
who have governed the city since 1973.
D.C. citizens have no voting representative in Congress, but since 1961 have
cast three (3) electoral votes in the presidential race.
The
purpose of the District of Columbia is to serve as the seat of the U.S.
federal government. It was established as a neutral territory, separate
from any state, to house the nation's capital and its governing
bodies. This ensures the federal government's independence from state
politics and allows Congress to exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the
District. There have been several unsuccessful efforts to make D.C. the
51st state. The latest was in 2021, when
a statehood bill passed the House, but died in the Senate.
Last
week, citing the crime rate, President Trump announced he was activating 800 National
Guard members to take over D.C.'s police department. Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a
Democrat, who denies crime is out of control in her city, described the troop
deployment as an "authoritarian push." Three observations:
First,
Trump has the authority to be authoritarian.
Until 1973, Congress and the president had 'total control' over the
district. The Home Rule Act of 1973 gave
D.C. residents more control over their local government, but with
limitations. Congress and the president
still oversee D'C's budget and can intervene/override the district's local
government. A bill to repeal the Home
Rule Act was introduced in February, but failed to gain enough support to
become law. D.C.'s local government is primarily
federal funded by American taxpayer dollars, not local taxes.
Second,
crime is a problem in D.C. In 2024,
Washington, D.C. had a homicide rate of 27.3 per 100,000 residents. That is the fourth highest homicide rate in
the country- six times higher than NYC.
If D.C. were a state, it would have the highest homicide rate of any
state in the U.S. D.C.'s homicide rate
has doubled in the last 13 years. Local
police have proven they are not up to the task of dealing with their crime rate. Trump was right to send in the National Guard.
Third,
D.C. should be reduced in size. The idea
of returning land from Washington, D.C. to Maryland and Virginia, known as retrocession, has
been discussed for years. The Constitution allows Congress to alter the
federal district's boundaries. As
mentioned above, a portion of the original District was retroceded to Virginia
in 1846.
Both
bordering states have shown little interest in annexing the District, probably because
assuming responsibility for a high crime/high unemployment city is not in their
best interest. But it is past time for
D.C. citizens to assume responsibility for their own city. Instead of making
D.C. a state, the residential areas of the district should be folded into the adjoining
states. One potential obstacle is that
retrocession might require a constitutional amendment.
When Congress passed the Residence Act in 1790 calling for the permanent seat of government to be located on the Potomac, President Washington took personal control of the layout and construction. D.C. was originally a ten-mile square block of land that would house the president's mansion, the Capitol and other federal buildings. It was never intended to be home to 690,000 with the highest crime rate in America.
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