District of Columbia

The District of Columbia is caught betwen a financial problem and a political problem. It lacks the funds to perform functions that elsewhere are performed by states, but it has no state to perform these functions for it. Handing these functions to the federal government is not the solution, because the federal government is not the equivalent of the District's "state," because the District lacks political representation in the federal government. The solution is to reunite the District with the state of Maryland. Then, as in other American cities, the District could handle the city-level functions, the state could handle the state-level functions, and the federal government could handle the national functions. As a bonus, the District would finally have proper representation in the national government.


Finding a Home in the Free State
Washington Post, Sept. 21, 1997, at C10

Abstract
	The District of Columbia is caught betwen a financial problem and a political problem. It lacks the funds to perform functions that elsewhere are performed by states, but it has no state to perform these functions for it. Handing these functions to the federal government is not the solution, because the federal government is not the equivalent of the District's "state," because the District lacks political representation in the federal government. The solution is to reunite the District with the state of Maryland. Then, as in other American cities, the District could handle the city-level functions, the state could handle the state-level functions, and the federal government could handle the national functions. As a bonus, the District would finally have proper representation in the national government.