As Congressional Democrats introduce legislation to begin the process of making Washington D.C. a state, Republicans have been looking for any reason to deny D.C. residents the same representation afforded to other U.S. citizens.
Republicans' true motivations are obvious.
Washington D.C. leans heavily Democrat and would likely mean two new Senate seats on the left.
Since political preference isn't a legitimate reason to deny citizens representation, however, Republicans have had to think up other, often nonsensical reasons, why D.C. shouldn't be a state.
Republican Congressman Jody Hice of Georgia, for instance, said D.C.'s residents don't deserve seats in Congress because it doesn't have a car dealership.
As ludicrous as Hice's point is on its face, it was also embarrassingly incorrect, as someone pointed out to him as soon as he made it.
Washington D.C. does, in fact, have a car dealership.
Taxation without representation is the reason for our country's split from Great Britain, but Republicans are now advocating for it in the case of left-leaning places like Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.
Washington D.C. contains more people than Vermont and Wyoming, but its citizens have no power in Congress.
Though the framers of the Constitution didn't picture Washington D.C. becoming a state, the world has changed in many ways since their lifetimes.
Hice was dragged by pretty much everyone on Twitter for his silly statement.
The denial of the right to representation for D.C. residents has been noticed around the world, with the United Nations Human Rights Committee even calling out the U.S. for breaking the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2006.
It's time for the taxpaying U.S. citizens who live in Washington D.C. to be given their right to representation.
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