The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved a bill to make Washington D.C. the 51st state. The bill is now being considered by the Senate and, if passed, would likely be signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Republicans are doing everything in their power to make D.C. statehood seem like a power grab by Democrats. The area is populated largely by liberals and turning it into a state would likely mean two more Senate seats on the left.
Some Republicans like Ohio State Representative Mike Loychik (who recently proposed an Ohio state park should be renamed after Donald Trump) are arguing D.C. should be a state because the founding fathers specifically said it should not be one.
Of course, the opinions of a bunch of White men from over 200 years ago didn't seem especially compelling to many Twitter users, especially considering more people live in D.C. than live in Wyoming or Vermont.
Those people are not extended the same rights of representation available to the rest of the nation.
Also, the founders were far from perfect men.
The founding fathers, a radical group of liberals in their time, were prescient enough to know the future would change and the government ought to be able to change with it.
Twitter also gave Loychik's opinion the meme treatment, cracking more than a couple jokes about the Republican's post.
Of course, it's important to remember Loychik and his fellow Republicans are not making arguments like this one in good faith.
Loychik does not hold the vision of the founding fathers sacred or believe in the philosophical separation of the Capitol from U.S. politics. Republicans are simply trying to avoid two more Democratic Senators.
If the D.C. area leaned conservative, none of these arguments would matter to them.
The bill passed by the house would turn the majority of Washington D.C. into a state while preserving the founders' intended federal district.
The people of Washington D.C. deserve the same rights guaranteed to all other citizens.
The founding fathers wrote the Constitution without being able to see the future, but Republicans like Loychik have no excuse for being unable to see the present.
