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The Nation's Capital

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington or D.C., is the capital of the United States. Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, first President of the United States and Founding Father. Washington is the principal city of the Washington metropolitan area, which has an estimated population of 6,131,977. As the seat of the United States federal government and several international organizations, the city is an important world political capital. Washington is one of the most visited cities in the world, with more than 20 million annual tourists.

Geographical type: Territory

Latitude: 38.9° N — Longitude: 77.02° W

Area: 177 km²

ISO 3166-2 code: US-DC

Birthplace of

Doug Bandow, Douglas Bandow, on 15 Apr 1957
Bettina Bien Greaves, Bettina Bien, on Jul 1917
Edward Herrmann, on 21 Jul 1943
Karl Hess, Carl Hess III, on 25 May 1923
David Nolan, David Fraser Nolan, on 23 Nov 1943

Deathplace of

Frederick Douglass, on 20 Feb 1895
Dwight D. Eisenhower, on 28 Mar 1969
Gottfried Haberler, on 6 May 1995
Leonard Liggio, on 14 Oct 2014
Abraham Lincoln, on 15 Apr 1865
Woodrow Wilson, on 3 Feb 1924

Measures of Freedom

LP State-by-State Membership Numbers [PDF], Libertarian Party News, Apr 2006
31 Dec 2005: Number of Members: 53

Articles

The Bill of Rights: Eminent Domain, by Jacob G. Hornberger, Freedom Daily, Dec 2004
Discusses the eminent domain protections of the Fifth Amendment and how they were undermined by cases such as Berman v. Parker (1954) and Poletown (1981), and the positive outcome of Wayne County v. Hathcock (2004)
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.
Confronting the Empire, by Justin Raimondo, 5 Jan 2007
Comments on the 2007 Iraq War troop surge, prior to its official announcement on 10 Jan, and suggests the antiwar movement camp out and protest in Washington, DC, to make the city unlivable and thus get the politicians to notice the "will of the people"
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.
George Mason and the Bills of Rights, by Gary Williams, The Freeman, May 1992
Relates the life of George Mason, his primary role in writing the Virginia Declaration of Rights and his opposition to ratifying the U.S. Constitution
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!'
How Empires Bamboozle the Bourgeoisie, by Lew Rockwell, Mises Daily, 28 Oct 2006
Speech at the Mises Institute Supporter's Summit; comments on two issues related to the U.S. population reaching 300 million: what kind of economy is needed to support that population and do all these people need to live under the same central 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.
Political Plundering of Property Owners, by James Bovard, Nov 2002
Details the effects of local government land and property seizures allegedly for urban renewal purposes, for improving "blighted" neighborhoods or for the benefit of sports team owners
[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 Logic, by Sheldon Richman, 22 Sep 2006
Comments on the perverted logic used in Washington politics, as evidenced by lobbying for and against import tariffs
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").
W(h)ither Public Schools?, by Sheldon Richman, Separating School & State, 1994
Chapter 1, made available online on 19 May 2004 to celebrate the tenth publication anniversary; discusses how even mild "public school" reforms are treated as "deadly threats", why a new vision is needed and the role of the family in educating children
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.
Will You Be Safer If Guns Are Banned? Part 1, by Jarret Wollstein, Freedom Daily, Jul 1994
Considers whether banning guns would reduce crime, citing studies, articles and statistics that show the apparent paradox that gun-control laws tend to increase crime and violence, and explores some reasons for the continued increase in violent crime
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.

The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Washington, D.C." as of 2 Nov 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.