Glenn Grothman: “First of all, a little comment, maybe clearing things up. I will point out to everyone in the room that when we say the…”

“First of all, a little comment, maybe clearing things up. I will point out to everyone in the room that when we say the Pledge of Allegiance, the phrase ``to the Republic for which it stands'' is in the pledge. And I think we all remember the memorable comment of Benjamin Franklin at a time around when the Constitution was drafted. He talked about he was giving us ``a Republic, if we can keep it.'' Now, at the time the Constitution was drafted, our forefathers did include a district, which would be the capital for the country. Our forefathers put together the United States and reached a compromise between the 13 States. They realized at the time it would be ridiculous to break apart a State and give it two Senators, like all of the other States. In part, that is because it is so different and has such a different interest in the States. All of the States, the 50 States, to a variety of degree, have been given an amount of agriculture. There is virtually no agriculture-- maybe no agriculture--maybe somewhere there is a greenhouse or something in the District of Columbia. There is no manufacturing. There is no mining or logging. Or if there is, it is so tiny we can barely see it. Mr. Speaker, it is a unique city because it is based on government jobs and tourist jobs connected to people coming and visiting those government buildings. It is not like any other State out there.…”