Washington, District of Columbia

We decided a couple of days ago to take a family trip to Washington DC. My wife went online, got us an amazing deal on a hotel, and now here we are on a Saturday morning two blocks from the White House. As I look out my window I see a bunch of semi-modern buildings and the Washington Monument peeking out above.

About eleven last night my son and I stepped out to walk around and see what sights we could within walking distance. We walked over towards the Executive Mansion, but found all the good picture angles blocked by the remaining flotsam and jetsam of the inauguration. Washington, in the right areas, has an amazing, maybe deceptively safe feel about it. Of course more police patrol the periphery of the White House than are on duty at any one time in our Potomac Highlands towns.

We walked around to the front and looked at the usual view. The lights had been turned off, bringing a shroud of darkness over the building. A young urban intellectual looking couple walked behind us. The guy pulled out a twenty dollar bill to see if it looked like the building sitting a hundred and fifty yards or so away. They walked on and we remained, looking.

One light burned in the top floor. We speculated, is that the President's light on? It makes you wonder about the person sitting in that lone light. Is he still enjoying the afterglow of being elected president? Has the actual burden of office set in yet? We saw it in President Bush's face these last few weeks. He owned the weight of the world and looked glad to hand it off to another. Sooner or later, Obama will understand the man he bashed for so many months, the same man who treated him with such grace and class since November.

Then we walked to the Mall. At the Washington Monument a few kids stood in front of the harsh lights using their bodies to make shadow puppets. My ten year old son asked what the job of Congress was. I responded by telling him how they made the laws and the president's part in vetoing or allowing legislation to pass, explaining that Dave Sypolt (who Jared has met many times) did the same thing in West Virginia.

Our next stop on the walking tour was the amazing World War II Memorial. It has its own grandeur, especially at night with the soft lights. My son begged to walk to the Lincoln Memorial and so we trudged westward. Along the way we passed a huge group of high school kids belting out "Don't Stop Believin'" which is as good an anthem for this generation to adopt as any.

Well, it's morning. We should be heading over to the Capitol this afternoon for a tour, hitting the Holocaust Museum as well as the Smithsonian.

Washington DC is far from a perfect place and the most important man here is not the guy I voted for. That all being said, this is to Americans what Mecca is to Muslims, Jerusalem is to Jews, and Rome is to Catholics. This is the center of freedom for our nation and the world. The ideals behind this town have revolutionized the planet since the days when this was a swampy and usually uncomfortably hot forest. The standard of humanity is not if people should be free, it is how to get them to that condition. For that we can thank a long line of great men from Washington to George W. Bush. We also hope and pray that the current administration cherishes freedom here and abroad in the same manner as most of his predecessors.

Guns Make Citizens

Last week I came home to find the Washington DC local news on. The local station was doing a story about a gun search. That's right. Without warrants, people's homes were being searched for guns that are currently illegal in Washington DC. Presumably this is because they fear that their law will be found in violation of the Second Amendment. Of course these are likely the homes of law abiding citizens because no one would just barge into a drug lord's home to demand guns. My daughter said that it sounded like something that the British might do shortly before the Revolution.

The first thing that dictatorships seize is people's guns. Other countries, such as Japan, hesitated to directly invade the US due to widespread gun ownership. Thomas Jefferson saw them as key to a free people protecting their freedoms from a tyrannical government. The right goes back to the Middle Ages when King Henry II of England required people to arm themselves to protect the nation. He as a result understood that he needed to be better acquainted with the people's needs and traveled widely to keep in touch with their wishes. Later kings found it more convenient to call assemblies later known as Parliamant into session. An armed population is one that the government goes to greater lengths to keep happy.

Certainly the biggest threat on the horizon, besides the current case before the US Supreme Court, is Barrack Obama. According to many, his actual views as he wrote in his book are far to the left of the mainstream. He is the stalking horse for George Soros and MoveOn.org who continue their quest to revolutionize the United States and transform it into something quite alien from the original dreams of the Founding Fathers. Their guiding star is not George Washington, but Karl Marx. Of course the people must be rendered impotent first.

The American definition of rights is freedoms granted by God or nature. The American definition of citizen describes a person who not only enjoys, but fights for these rights. Gun ownership ensures our rights now and forever, or at least until we elect governments that obliterate their enjoyment.

Give Washington, DC back to Maryland?

A recent article in the Baltimore Sun says that Washington, DC should be given representation in Congress. I disagree it should be given independent representation.

The District of Columbia is the nations capital and in 1791 when its location was decided it was also decided it would be independent of the states. Originally the District of Columbia was set up at a 10 mile by 10 mile section of land along the Potomac carved out of both Virginia and Maryland. Washington County, DC was located on the Maryland portion, and Arlington County, DC was located on the Virginia portion.

The people that choose to live in the District of Columbia know they give up certain rights by choosing to live in a Federal District instead of a state. Everybody currently living in the District live there by choice, so they are willing giving up those rights.

The founding fathers did not want any state to hold the capital of the nation. I still believe that is a good idea. If the citizens of the District of Columbia want representation in Congress, then I believe the choice is simple. On July 9, 1846 Arlington County, DC was returned to the state of Virginia from which is was carved. The people in Arlington were then represented in Congress as part of the state of Virginia.

The same could be done now to give the people of Washington, DC representation in Congress. Simply return the Washington County portion of the District back to Maryland. They would then have representation in Congress without creating new Senate and House seats.