What Would Betsy Ross Do?

I have not spent a great deal of time worrying about statehood for Washington, D.C. I hail from Colorado, a great big sate. I am currently a resident of one of the biggest states, California. The idea that these little corners of North America are considered to be on equal footing with these easily recognized shapes of geography with the big boys is a cute notion. 

Or it was, before it was pointed out to me that population and representation are huge deals when it comes time to decide things like taxation and national elections. I confess that my biggest concern prior to this concerning adding an additional star or two to our flag. Fifty-one is not a prime number, so the arrangement could still be made in a symmetrical fashion, or we could all just get an additional star and stick it anywhere on the field of blue that suits us. It's a free country, after all. Just not so much for those living in the District of Columbia. 

An argument that is getting quite a lot of play these days is that the state of Wyoming has a smaller population than Washington D.C. Wyoming gets two senators, and a representative in the House. The folks in Washington D.C. get nobody in the Senate and a lone representative with limited voting privileges. To be clear, there are plenty of ordinary citizens in the District of Columbia who live, work and pay taxes into a federal government that they live with in close quarters and yet have no voice on the national scene. Eleanor Norton, who has represented her home in Congress since 1991 as a "delegate" would like to see that change. The flag is the least of her concern.  

And neither is the Twenty-third Amendment. That's the one that provides for the appointment of elecotors who can then participate in the Electoral College and thereby help select the new President and Vice President. It seems as though some of the Republican persuasion have their conservative knickers in a twist about having to repeal an Amendment to the Constitution in order to admit the District into the Union. 

Or maybe they're concerned about all those black and brown and blue votes that would suddenly be given a voting voice on Capitol Hill. That would be squarely on brand with the current Republican strategy of attempting to disenfranchise as many votes of color as possible across the entire United States. 

I had a little twinge there when I typed "United." 

Or maybe it's still that whole flag thing.