Washington DC: Difference between revisions
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Unlike other U.S. cities, Washington is notable for its complete lack of skyscrapers. This is because of a law on the matter (the DC Building Act 1910) that prohibits the construction of any building taller that the US Capitol (which, contrary to popular belief, does not mention the Washington Monument). Thus, most skyscrapers are usually located on the Virginia side of the Potomac (which separates Washington from Arlington and Alexandria). More on that later. |
Unlike other U.S. cities, Washington is notable for its complete lack of skyscrapers. This is because of a law on the matter (the DC Building Act 1910) that prohibits the construction of any building taller that the US Capitol (which, contrary to popular belief, does not mention the Washington Monument). Thus, most skyscrapers are usually located on the Virginia side of the Potomac (which separates Washington from Arlington and Alexandria). More on that later. |
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Not to be confused with the novel ''[[Washington, D.C.]]'' by [[Gore Vidal]]. |
Not to be confused with the novel ''[[Washington, D.C.]]'' by [[Gore Vidal]], or the state of Washington (which we cover in [[The Other Rainforest]]). |
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| name = Why Is It Called The District? |
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| ⚫ | Washington is also not part of any US State. It's a special federal district. As a tragically ironic consequence of this, citizens who live in Washington have less representation in the federal government than other citizens. Up until 1961, residents could not vote for the President of the United States. Representation in the legislature is limited to one delegate in US House of Representatives, who is [[Morton's Fork|not allowed to vote]]. In fact, given that the US Congress has final say over all matters passed by the municipal government, DC's situation is similar to that of colonial America's relationship to Great Britain. Thus, the license plate slogan [https://web.archive.org/web/20160313044507/http://autodogmatic.com/index.php/2006/05/25/dcplates?blog=2 "Taxation without Representation"]. The exact technical term is [[wikipedia:Suzerainty|"suzerainty"]], in that The District is under the direct control of Congress in the same way a king might hold control over a captured territory. |
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| title = Why Is It Called The District? |
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| ⚫ | | content1 = Washington is also not part of any US State. It's a special federal district. As a tragically ironic consequence of this, citizens who live in Washington have less representation in the federal government than other citizens. Up until 1961, residents could not vote for the President of the United States. Representation in the legislature is limited to one delegate in US House of Representatives, who is [[Morton's Fork|not allowed to vote]]. In fact, given that the US Congress has final say over all matters passed by the municipal government, DC's situation is similar to that of colonial America's relationship to Great Britain. Thus, the license plate slogan [https://web.archive.org/web/20160313044507/http://autodogmatic.com/index.php/2006/05/25/dcplates?blog=2 "Taxation without Representation"]. The exact technical term is [[wikipedia:Suzerainty|"suzerainty"]], in that The District is under the direct control of Congress in the same way a king might hold control over a captured territory. |
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Why does such an ironic situation exist? It was written into the US Constitution. The Founding Fathers feared if the capital district was a part of any state or was considered a state itself, the federal government would treat that state favorably. The framers never thought that Washington would become an actual city with an indigenous population. But they overestimated the size of land needed to host a body of government, and that extra land naturally ended up being filled with people who worked in the District. |
Why does such an ironic situation exist? It was written into the US Constitution. The Founding Fathers feared if the capital district was a part of any state or was considered a state itself, the federal government would treat that state favorably. The framers never thought that Washington would become an actual city with an indigenous population. But they overestimated the size of land needed to host a body of government, and that extra land naturally ended up being filled with people who worked in the District. |
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Why this has not been corrected: Aside from the fact that [[Be as Unhelpful as Possible|getting Congress to agree on anything is hard in general]], politics in the District are incredibly monolithic, leaving both of [[American Political System|the major political parties of the US]] having very different preferences for a solution. The Democratic Party, which enjoys over 90% support in DC, naturally favors statehood or something equivalent, which would add 2 Senate seats and one House seat that they would perpetually control. The Republican Party, on the other hand, prefers returning the land of the District to the jurisdiction of Maryland, which gave up the land to form the capital in the first place. This would add a single Democratic-dominated House district to Maryland's allotment, a much smaller advantage to Democrats and thus much more palatable to Republicans. |
Why this has not been corrected: Aside from the fact that [[Be as Unhelpful as Possible|getting Congress to agree on anything is hard in general]], politics in the District are incredibly monolithic, leaving both of [[American Political System|the major political parties of the US]] having very different preferences for a solution. The Democratic Party, which enjoys over 90% support in DC, naturally favors statehood or something equivalent, which would add 2 Senate seats and one House seat that they would perpetually control. The Republican Party, on the other hand, prefers returning the land of the District to the jurisdiction of Maryland, which gave up the land to form the capital in the first place. This would add a single Democratic-dominated House district to Maryland's allotment, a much smaller advantage to Democrats and thus much more palatable to Republicans. |
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Combined with Baltimore, it makes up the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Baltimore is less than an hour's drive from Washington (theoretically—traffic can be ''brutal'') and urban sprawl between the two is pretty much continuous. However, the two cities are culturally distinct, and because of the gap both Baltimore and Washington have separate TV and radio stations covering their areas despite the short distance between the two. |
Combined with Baltimore, it makes up the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Baltimore is less than an hour's drive from Washington (theoretically—traffic can be ''brutal'') and urban sprawl between the two is pretty much continuous. However, the two cities are culturally distinct, and because of the gap both Baltimore and Washington have separate TV and radio stations covering their areas despite the short distance between the two. |
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