The House’s vote to pass D.C. statehood wasn’t the only milestone for the statehood effort. Earlier, the White House released a statement endorsing D.C. statehood, calling on Congress to “provide for a swift and orderly transition to statehood for the people of Washington D.C.”
The Biden administration throwing its support behind statehood adds to the growing wave of lawmakers and activists who are backing H.R. 51. It still faces a serious challenge in the Senate, but there is clearly a growing recognition among Democrats that D.C. statehood must be a priority. (Patriotic Millionaires, 23 April 2021)
My comment: Epicurus may have disliked politics, but if we were able to explain to him that a group of people larger than the populations of some existing States has no vote in Congress (in a democracy), and are arguably the biggest group of disenfranchised people in the (democratic) world, he might well ask ”Why on earth is that? That’s not fair”; in Greek, of course). He would also be amazed that so many Americans don’t even know about the votelessness of DC. Yes, this is highly political, I know. DC is painted by extremists as a “swamp” (that is a place with a large number of educated people). But it is nonetheless scandalous and a puzzlement to foreigners and fair-minded people everywhere.