If the powers that be think we’re going to go easily or quietly, they’re wrong.

The Post today exposed a devious little plan to chip away at the District’s identity, starting with phasing out the city’s postmark and replacing it instead with one bearing the name of our northern neighbor, Maryland. According to a Post study, of 235 letters mailed from every quadrant and zip code within city limits, only 24 — 10 percent — were delivered bearing the loud and proud “WASHINGTON DC” postmark. The overwhelming majority, though, were bastardized with a postmark reading “SOUTHERN MD.”, or worse yet, “SUBURBAN MD.”

Sure, the Post Office claims that it has something to do with security, but we’re no fools. The scheme to turn the District over to Maryland to avoid giving us our own voting rights has been clear for some time, and this is but another step that has so far included stealing away our Redskins’ stadium and moving the Awakening sculpture on Hains Point to Prince George’s County. What’s next? The Wilson Building getting moved to Annapolis? Not on our watch.

We’ve had some victories of our own, though. We no longer have to root for the Orioles, and if the Senate ever acts on it, we might finally get one of our own quarters like every other state. For now, though, we’ll be hand-writing in our own Washington postmark.