Michael Cianchette got it wrong in his recent column about D.C. statehood.
While he seems to agree that D.C.’s 700,000 residents deserve the right to federal representation, he also seems to think that proposing statehood as a solution is some sort of trick to elect more Democrats to Congress.
That’s not why. The reason D.C. statehood is under consideration is that Washington, D.C. voters have petitioned their government to get it. Statehood is what the citizens of D.C. want — it’s their solution, and that is what is on the table. Retrocession, whereby the 700,000 D.C. residents would become residents of Maryland, may be Cianchette’s solution, but D.C. residents do not want to be part of Maryland, and — get this — Maryland does not want to annex D.C.