Editor,

I was intrigued by Ed Hickey’s May 5 letter to the editor. In it, he seemed to imply that nefarious Democrats support statehood for Washington, D.C. in an attempt to cement “perpetual rule of our country under Democrat socialism.”

A similar ploy, I imagine, to when in 1889 Republicans created six new states in less than a year, sending 12 new Republican senators to Congress. And this despite the fact that some of these new states had populations smaller than that of an average county in Massachusetts.

But Mr. Hickey need not worry. Statehood for D.C. is unlikely to happen anytime soon, and the Republican advantage in the Senate seems quite safe. As it stands today, the 50 Republican senators represent 40 million fewer citizens than do the 50 Democratic senators, making the Senate a rather undemocratic institution, something which Republicans intend to protect.

It will require more than one new Democratic-leaning state to threaten that advantage.

Personally, I believe that statehood for D.C. is fair and just. The district has a population larger than that of either Wyoming or Vermont. While these two states each have two senators and one member of the house, while D.C. is left with one delegate with limited voting rights.

I think most of us would agree that this constitutes taxation without representation, something which the founders called tyranny.

It would seem, then, that national Republicans, and presumably Mr. Hickey, are willing to countenance tyranny to protect a Republican advantage in an institution which is currently quite undemocratic.

Dr. Bernd J. Fischer

Oak Harbor