The National Capital Service Area should become the new District of Columbia. A simple act of congress would do the trick, then we would be on the right track to FULL democracy here in the City of Washington.

Pictured here is a map NOT of the entire District of Columbia but of downtown Washington and the National Capital Service Area (NCSA). I obtained it from the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC). The areas shown in the brighter color encompass the Capitol Building, the White House, the Mall, and all of the federal monuments and office buildings along Pennsylvania, Constitution and Independence Avenues. Also included in the Area are the Washington Navy Yard, the Naval Air Station, Bolling AFB, Ft. McNair, Roosevelt Island, Columbia Island and Potomac Park. There are very few if any private businesses or residences within these boundaries.

The District Line must be re-drawn to enclose only this federal real estate to stop encumbering the lives, properties, and freedoms of the citizens and residents of the City of Washington. The D.C. Line can be morphed to create this new District of Columbia through passage of a simple act of Congress. No constitutional amendment or super-majority vote are necessary.

The boundaries and locations of the NCSA were decided by Congress in the early 1970's to be the essential elements of the seat of the U.S. Federal Government. This seat is cited in Article I, Section 8, paragraph 17 of the U.S. Constitution. The language in this paragraph specifically allows that there "may" be a District to serve as the seat of government, and that it "may" be no more than 10 miles square, and that Congress shall have exclusive dominion in all matters over this District. The language is clear: the District may be as large as 100 square miles, as small as one square block, or it may not exist at all.

The Territory of Columbia, which is the geographical "home" of the political area known as "the District," was 10 miles square in year 1800. Then after only 46 years had passed, the residents of Arlington County petitioned congress, asking to be released from the onerous confines of the District. Being only two generations or so separated from the state of Virginia, they were desirous to return to statehood, and the Virginia state government was happy to have them. This was accomplished by a simple act of congress, and it left the District for the next 159 years with its present area of about 69 square miles. That's 10+ generations of congressional colonial rule over a population that steadily grew and for a time exceeded 800,000 residents. At present there are about 580,000 and again on the rise.

A first step toward democratic treatment of D.C. residents to bring them closer to equality and out of their third-class status  of citizenship would be to move the District Line to alignment with the NCSA boundaries. We would thereby re-gain the rights of our Territory of Columbia to include budgetary, judicial, and legislative autonomies, much like other U.S. territories enjoy today. The matters of statehood by simple act of congress or full voting rights in our national legislature would be subsequent steps that may or may not soon follow. In the meantime we will have achieved second-class citizenship, which is more than we have now.

It is my view that "voting rights" is not a political improvement  if the basic autonomies are not in the package. It is difficult to believe that U.S. citizens living in Guam, American Samoa, the Marianas, and Puerto Rico would elect to pay federal taxes and forsake the local control they have over their own budgets, legislature and judiciary, their own destiny, just to have voting representation in Congress. I don't think so.