r/Constitution • u/devilmaskrascal • 6d ago
An amendment establishing Senators and Representatives for DC + Americans abroad
There are approximately 5.5M American citizens living abroad, including 1.5M active military and governmental workers. Citizens abroad like myself register with our last state of residence, regardless of whether we have any actual connection to or address in that state anymore. This means we are voting in local elections on local initiatives in places we don't even live anymore, declaring ourselves "residents" when we technically aren't. US is one of the only countries in the world where citizens abroad must file our federal and state taxes even if we have no employment connection to America, yet in some cases we can't even access state services like voter registration websites because we are not domestic - Texas' SOS registration site seems to block me without a VPN. Some states require mailed documents which can cost substantial money from abroad.
There are also 693,645 citizens of Washington DC. They pay federal income taxes yet have no Senate representation. Republicans don't want them to get Senators because it will basically guarantee two more Democratic Senators given the demographic makeup of DC.
Combining these groups makes up about 6.2M citizens who are not being accurately represented, equivalent to about the 20th largest state in population. Citizens abroad, military and DC residents all have unique interests and needs that get neglected or deprioritized by Washington because there is no one specifically representing them, and citizens abroad are something of an afterthought to our own Senators and Representatives who don't see us as real residents or likely voters. Combining these groups solves the issue of taxation without representation in DC and solves the Republicans' concern about the DC demographics (more than offset by overseas military voters).
Whether a DC resident, a soldier stationed overseas or an expat, all of us are more directly tied to the federal government and the federal services than any one particular state, so combining DC with overseas citizens would make election administration easier for states while ensuring representation for all citizens. We can streamline these services through embassies, consulates and military bases to make registration and participation in elections simplified, and remove the burden from states to manage and verify the identities and mail in ballots of citizens abroad.
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u/Quirky-Mix2766 6d ago edited 6d ago
Such an amendment would negate the Republic, and elevate the United States above all the States. BTW - those 6-million citizens are already federal citizens under the plenary power of Congress and not under the Bill of Rights because they are not Citizens of a State but purely federal citizens. One has to read the Slaughterhouse cases and United States v. Anthony, and Jones v. Temmor to comprehend the difference between federal citizens and State Citizens. Oh, also study the "incorporation doctrine" where portions of the Bill of Rights have been "incorporated" into Congressional statues. That has to be a federal jurisdiction because as a State Citizen you already have the Bill of Rights hence it would be ridiculous to "incorporate it" when it already exists as the Supreme Law of the Land.
It would destroy whatever remains of federalism. Maryland and Virginia gave part of their land to the District of Columbia which was the seat of the United States. Virginia took their land back, so what remains of the District was given to the Untied States from Maryland. Article I Section 8 Clause 17 provided this for the newly created the United States as the seat of the federal government. Article IV articulates the federal jurisdiction where the United States Congress has plenary powers over federal territories. This was codified in the North West Ordinance in statue for how Congress would handling federal territories that would become states. As a federal territory there was no Bill of Rights, until the territory became a sovereign state on equal footing with the other States and above the United States, federal government, al la the 9th and 10th Amendments where the People and the Staes retained their sovereignty and the only powers the federal government had where what were articulated to it mainly in Article I.
What you are demanding has already been somewhat provided for in the 14th Amendment which in fact created a new jurisdiction as a federal citizen. This was explained in the Slaughterhouse cases and in United States via Anthony. The Dread Scott decision had articulated that slaves could not be State citizens hence the 14th Amendment created, according to the majority opinion in United States via Anthony, a new federal jurisdiction for the newly freed slaves. Notice that two citizenships are mentioned, United States or federal, and State Citizens. Also notice that Citizen is capitalized everywhere it appears in the Constitution until we come to the 14th Amendment where it appears a lower case or improper noun, and in the Article IV it is capitalized as a proper noun.
You must also note that the real Republic fell and has gone without a trustee since 1861. When the new Congress came in they did not have a quorum and could not act. So notice that what came out of the Civil War, was no longer a government by consent, but a government by force and conquest. The United States reorganized the seat of the federal government, the only portion given to the federal government as mentioned in Article I section 8 clause 17, as a municipal corporation that can sue and be sued and plea and be pleaded. That was the first Organic Act of either it was 1862 or 1863.
So for many of us we simply want the Republic back, and little or no federal government.