Washington, D.C.

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court decided one of the major eminent-domain cases, Berman v. Parker. The case arose from the D.C. government's condemnation of slum areas in Washington for purposes of "urban renewal." The process involved throwing people out of their homes for the purpose of beautifying blighted neighborhoods in D.C. ... some residents nonetheless objected ... arguing that the power of eminent domain did not extend to such government projects as urban renewal. A department ... store's owners argued that their store didn't even constitute blight. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government.

The problem, as I see it, is summed up in a single word: Washington. The Imperial City is culturally as well as politically incapable of responding any longer to the national zeitgeist on the question of the war, and foreign policy in general ... Washington is the problem, and the solution is to make that city ungovernable, and a thoroughly unpleasant place for our ruling elite to be ... By descending on Washington, and literally camping out, the millions who detest this war could make the city unlivable, or, at least, make it impossible for the mandarins of power to any longer discount us humble plebeians.

He spoke out strongly against a 10-mile-square Federal district that ironically came to be located just a few miles from his home. Concerning the proposed District of Columbia, Mason said: 'This ten miles square may set at defiance the laws of the surrounding states and may ... become the sanctuary of the blackest crimes! Here the federal courts are to sit ... what sort of jury shall we have within the ten miles square? The immediate creatures of government!'

There is something intuitively plausible and honest about the statement that if a government can't control its own capital, it cannot control the rest of the country ... I propose that the same approach be used domestically. Before the federal government makes any more attempts to bring their proposed utopia to the rest of the country, let them eliminate poverty, crime, gang war, hate, despair, abuse, corruption, and injustice in Washington, D.C. Once that city is cleared of all such vice, we can talk about moving on to other parts of the country. I think we can safely predict a quagmire.

By almost any educational achievement measure, the children attending public schools within the shadow of the U.S. Capitol are not receiving a quality education ... Contrary to the claims of defenders of the public school system, DCPS does not lack money. Despite having per-pupil spending that ranks among the highest in the nation—$10,550 for 1999–2000—public school students in the District rank near the bottom on standardized tests and in achievement levels ... [T]he system lacks qualified teachers, safe facilities, and even basic supplies such as pencils and text-books.

[A] federal district court struck down a Washington, D.C., land-seizure program in 1953 ... But in November 1954, the Supreme Court overturned ... The ... project that the Supreme Court approved was a near total flop. The city government, in its brief to the Supreme Court, promised that one-third of the new homes built would be low-rent housing to accommodate poor people displaced by the project. But as a Pacific Law Journal article noted, "No low-cost housing was built in the project area"; instead, "the redevelopers constructed a shopping mall and a complex of high-rent apartments and town houses."

Washington is a funny place, with its own unique "logic." It's a "company" town, the "company" being the federal government, the "product" being public policy. As a result, an odd sort of "thinking" is encouraged there. It's not like other places. Or it wasn't before the accelerating centralization of power ... In the amoral world of Washington politics, someone who lobbies against a tariff is as suspect as someone who lobbies for it (if not more so). In the Washington worldview ... the benevolent state exists to sort things out while maximizing the return to the Treasury ("taxpayers").

Consider the case of Washington, D.C., where the superintendent of schools proposed contracting out the management of the city's worst schools to a private firm ... The reform called "privatization," but that is misleading ... The superintendent (he is black) was called racist ... The Washington Teachers Union led the charge. Undoubtedly, they propagandized the students, one of whom referred to the superintendent as "our slave seller [who is] selling out education to the highest-bidding rich white owner." In the end, the superintendent had to shelve the plan for lack of support.

Since 1976, it’s been illegal in Washington, D.C., to own any handguns or to keep any type of gun in your home fully assembled. Nevertheless, Washington, D.C., has among the highest murder rates in the nation. ... In both New York and Washington, violent criminals can easily obtain machine guns and other deadly weapons on the streets within minutes. ... Another major reason why crime is increasing is that ... in our tax-ridden, regulation-crushed economy, many people cannot economically survive through low-end jobs. ... In Washington, D.C., it costs $7,000 in city fees to open a pushcart.