When the United States was founded, Washington D.C. was a stone's throw away from the center of population of the United States, giving everyone as equal an opportunity as possible to participate in those vibrant demonstrations of democracy we have come to cherish.
Now the population centroid for the country is 850 miles west by west-southwest of the nation’s capital, making it a hardship for those of us Western half of the country (and our representatives) to display our beliefs by marching for or against gun control, capital punishment, abortion, or DMCA/CBDTPA/SSSCA. You just won't see peaceniks from Berkeley staging a sit-in on the Capitol steps, or out-of-work Oregon loggers revving up chainsaws in front of the White House, or even pro-Microsofties from Seattle burning floppies in front of the Supreme Court to protest the antitrust suit.
The solution to this? MOVE THE CAPITAL. It should be moved so it is nearer the population center of this country (at present just outside of Edgar Springs, Missouri and moving west and a bit south as time goes by). It should be placed on the borders of two or more states so it is not completely surrounded by a single state. The location should have reasonable weather, topography, security, and access to transportation to function as the seat of government for a superpower.-- mrouse, Apr 01 2002 Relative travel time. http://grd.fedex.co...00.exe?func=viewmapFEDEX's ground transport link to approximate travel time. [mrouse, Apr 01 2002] Relative travel time. http://grd.fedex.co...00.exe?func=viewmapFEDEX's ground transport link to approximate travel time. [mrouse, Oct 04 2004] I think access to the capitol is fine as it is, especially when coming in and out of Reagan National. Certainly better than it would be if it were in Texarkana or Buzzing Mosquito or any backwater spot whose only qualification is that it is the population centroid.-- bristolz, Apr 01 2002 Reportin' lahv from Hicksville, at this hahr Double-Wide House...-- thumbwax, Apr 01 2002 Oh c'mon. From the west coast, if you can get to Lower East Galoshes, Missouri, then you can get to Washington. A central location served a purpose when travel was more laborious, but not anymore.-- waugsqueke, Apr 01 2002 Ah, yes, Galoshes, that prominent flood area. Isn't that near Wellington and MacKintosh?-- [ sctld ], Apr 01 2002 Even if it were difficult to get to Washington, where's the sense in moving from a place that is inconvenient for half (or less) of the population to a place that's inconvenient for nearly all of the population?-- beauxeault, Apr 01 2002 To get a rough idea of the inconvenience involved, go to the link on the left and type in the zip code 64150 for Kansas City, MO (which is relatively close to the center). Now type in 20001 for Washington D.C. and compare.-- mrouse, Apr 01 2002 Ever heard of flying?-- waugsqueke, Apr 01 2002 To fly everyone to the next million-man or million-mom march it would take 2400 fully-loaded 747's. Reagan International has about 800 daily flights, so you are looking at three days *with no other traffic* just to get everyone through the airport. Spend a day protesting and another three days clearing out homeward-bound air travellers, and you are looking at a week. It's cheaper just to bus them in, and you don't need to worry about hotels.-- mrouse, Apr 01 2002 I think it makes more sense for everyone who has a hankering to drive to the capitol and protest to just move to someplace near Washington DC. Besides, having to endure the hardship of getting there is part of the message of the protest.-- bristolz, Apr 01 2002 //Ever try to plan a million-man or million-mom march via plane?...//For comparison: Ever try to move a Nation's Capital?-- thumbwax, Apr 01 2002 Based on history, you don't need nearly a million people to do a million-mfillintheblank march anyway (not that that changes the argument).-- beauxeault, Apr 01 2002 Shoot, move it to Bentonville, Arkansas, home of Wal-Mart, the largest company in the world. Do your demonstrating there. Then go see Roy Clark's show.-- entremanure, Apr 02 2002 //reasonable weather, topography, security, and access to transportation//Doesn't that describe Washington DC at least as well as East Cupcake, Nebraska?-- angel, Apr 02 2002 Rotating seats of government is the one true answer. Cities bid on becoming national capitals in a way similar to the selection process for Olympic venues. Personally, I would favor opening the competition to include foreign cities--why not have the capital of the USA be Lyon, France, for a year? Next, we go to Fiji. But even if the capital is kept within the USA, it would do aging, jaded senators a world of good to sojourn in Ketchum, Idaho, for a year instead of malarial crime-ridden Washington, DC. And the confusion, disordor, and mayhem consequent on changing the location of the capital every year will keep the dummies from interfering with the general populace. Oops, sorry, my cynicism is showing.-- Dog Ed, Apr 02 2002 East Cupcake, Nebraska was my second (albeit tastier) choice.
I must have been the only one who, at the end of the movie Deep Impact, thought out loud how stupid it was to rebuild the nation's capital on a coastline just after a tsunami wiped out the old one. About that time, I bet congresscritters would be looking longingly at Denver. :)
Of course, a nut with a nuke and a fishing trawler is more likely , but it's probably easier to secure a landlocked capital than the coastal variety.-- mrouse, Apr 02 2002 capitOl, for the 6th or 7th time . . .-- bristolz, Apr 03 2002 CapitOl is the building where Congress meets. CapitAl is (among other things) the city that is designated as the seat of government.-- mrouse, Apr 03 2002 You are absolutely right. I apologize for being so stridently wrong. Good grief.-- bristolz, Apr 03 2002 NP, I've done the same thing :)-- mrouse, Apr 03 2002 How about we move the capital to London, you seemed to enjoy it during the colonial days...-- [ sctld ], Apr 03 2002 Move it to Canberra. In fact, move every country's capital to Canberra.
The capital of Finland? Canberra. The capital of Mongolia? Canberra. See? No more confusion.-- waugsqueke, Apr 03 2002 You could put the US capital on wheels and have it constantly shifting as the population density changes. This would make a Billion Man march easier as the capital might actually come to you ...-- Aristotle, Apr 03 2002 If it were in Mecca, would there be less chance of terrorism, or more?-- beauxeault, Apr 03 2002 I agree with [Rods]. The capital should be a web-capital, with the 1/2bakery as the capitol building. It's everywhere, and nowhere.
Or, another idea would be to move it to Rockford, Illinois. That's where the American media sends all of their broadcasters, journalists, news anchors and such to learn the local dialect, as it has been recognized as the 'most linguistically correct' place in America for American English. Politicians look dumb enough without picking up bad speaking habits.-- RayfordSteele, Apr 04 2002 waugs - that would really piss off the guys that made trivial pursuit-- chud, Apr 04 2002 Well, of course, to be fair we'd have to move the capital of Australia to, say, Buenos Aires or maybe Reykjavik. Yeah, Reykjavik.-- waugsqueke, Apr 04 2002 Blissmiss - most gifted in the American language surely?-- eldan, Apr 04 2002 //How about we move the capital to London, you seemed to enjoy it during the colonial days// ooh, sctld. Blatant hypocrisy from the Scottish fraternity! (but you're right, of course). :o)-- DrBob, Apr 04 2002 Now, thats nto fair DrBob, i'm fully in favour of the continuation of the United Kingdom. I am clompletely against Scottish independence...right now.-- [ sctld ], Apr 04 2002 Ah, but life's not fair is it? I shall certainly be using your quote in all my conversations about the state of civilisation."Well, all my Scottish acquaintances are enthusiastic in their endorsement of the English being in charge of the world."-- DrBob, Apr 04 2002 I never mentioned England. i do however have no quams about Britain being in control. And maybe Canada.-- [ sctld ], Apr 04 2002 Sure, laugh it up. When the asteroid 1950 DA crashes into the Atlantic on March 16, 2880 and causes a huge tidal wave to wash over the capital, you'll wish you had put it somewhere safe like the middle of Missouri. Just don't come crying to me. ;-)-- mrouse, Apr 05 2002 Canberra is a great place to send politicians, we do that to all our Federal politicians. Although with more of them there maybe it'll appear "alive" now.
Which would win in a death match ? A plague of locusts or a swarm/gaggle (?) of politicians ?-- shirtythebear, Apr 05 2002 In that case, ameRica would be more centrally located. (grin)-- mrouse, Apr 08 2002 makes sense, but no-- subkat, Jan 14 2003 Great idea. Since a) I've actually had this idea before, but didn't think to post it. You'd think that a nation's capital should be located in its center. And it makes even more sense for it to be at the population center. b)This idea was my gift from Sorta Claus in 2002. I feel accepted, yay.-- Eugene, Dec 06 2003 Great idea, seconded. But perhaps rezone the Oklahoma panhandle instead as a conveniently bordered area for which to build the new District upon. It would offer over 80 times the present land area for the Federal government bureaucracy machine and could be designed spaciously from the get-go rather than retrofitting an already too tight space.
The present District could then de-evolve into a purely historical district, reducing traffic and congestion and lowering blood pressures.-- whatrock, Apr 24 2024 Perhaps the US capital should be constantly moving, like a carnival float-- hippo, Apr 24 2024 'Spose Congress in all its financial mismanagementism could buy a cruise ship to hold all of its assorted members and minions. Maintenance and management would suffer, but at least they'd all be together at all times.-- whatrock, Apr 24 2024 //constantly moving, like a carnival float//
This describes roughly how an early medieval king's court functioned much of the time; the government was where the king was and, if the king didn't keep coming to check on them, the barons would just do their own thing. One historian used the phrase "governing from horseback" for this.
It generated plenty of work for harbingers.
Nowadays, of course, these would be mechanised and amalgamated in the form of combine harbingers.-- pertinax, Apr 24 2024 ba dum, tshhh-- hippo, Apr 25 2024 I thank you.-- pertinax, Apr 25 2024 {somewhere outside Winchester} "I thought *you* had the Pipe Roll." "Oh for fuck's sake, my lord." {rain intensifies}-- pertinax, Apr 25 2024 random, halfbakery