Thread by @ProfHansNoel

The opposition to DC Statehood — and especially the calls for retrocession to Maryland — seem to undermine any rationale for the idea of sovereign states in the first place. 🧵1/

Federalism implies allegiance to your state AND to the country. This is the basis for "equal" Senate representation. If your interests as a citizen are tied to your state, then maybe you shouldn’t be undervalued just because there are fewer of you.
2/

vox.com/2018/10/13/179…

I think there are better ways to manage the balance between state and national representation, but that’s the logic. And it depends on people having a sense of identity with their state. (Even if that identity is declining, as in @dhopkins1776’s book.) 3/

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book…

So when someone says DC should just be merged with Maryland, despite lack of any interest from Marylanders or Washingtonians, what does that say about our respect for citizens’ attachment to their states? 4/

Even more so the argument that Washingtonians should just decide to live in a different community if they want representation. 5/

It sort of makes you think that the whole logic of equal representation in the Senate, and of the Electoral College, all depend on principles no one is interested in taking seriously. 6/END