This thread was triggered by two articles that I read recently. I've heard of this concept before, but the time seems to have arrived where it makes sense to get the process started.
Spread the swamp? Trump administration wants to move government offices out of Washington - LA Times
Census Bureau: 5 Richest Counties Are D.C. Suburbs- 9 of the top 20 counties by income are located in the DC area.
It is not the first time that Americans have had to deal with a remote, unaccountable and unresponsive government. There are many reasons why breaking up Washington DC would be beneficial including:
Some examples of how Washington departments/bureaucracies could be distributed:
This would obviously take years to implement, but would be a worthwhile change to create a more accountable, flexible and just federal government for the US. There would be plenty of bureaucrats who would push back against such a move, but being located among those they are impacting would combat the power-seeking and non-accountability described by Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy.
Spread the swamp? Trump administration wants to move government offices out of Washington - LA Times
Census Bureau: 5 Richest Counties Are D.C. Suburbs- 9 of the top 20 counties by income are located in the DC area.
It is not the first time that Americans have had to deal with a remote, unaccountable and unresponsive government. There are many reasons why breaking up Washington DC would be beneficial including:
- More equitable distribution of money and power around the US.
- We currently have bureaucracies with all of the power of the legislative, judicial and executive branches merged in a single organization (ex: EPA), but are located thousands of miles from the people that they most affect. Moving them should create better accountability and responsiveness to those affected.
- Concentrating US power structures into a single, few square mile area makes the Federal government more vulnerable to attack or disruption. This setup is a relic of the 18th century when it was created. Distributed structures are much more resilient and with the growth of Internet communications channels makes a more flexible organization very viable.
- Access to a more diverse population of workers than those living or attracted to the DC area.
- Lowering the cost of government by moving workers to lower cost-of-living areas.
Some examples of how Washington departments/bureaucracies could be distributed:
- Dept of the Interior- Move them out west, possibly Utah or Nevada, where they control more than half of the land.
- Dept of Energy- Louisiana, Alaska or Wyoming, where major oil and coal industries are located.
- Housing and Urban Development- Baltimore or Detroit, where real urban revival is most urgently needed
- Dept of Agriculture- Iowa or Nebraska- some of the largest agricultural production states
- Departments with no obvious regional affiliation- move them to depressed areas that could use the economic boost.
This would obviously take years to implement, but would be a worthwhile change to create a more accountable, flexible and just federal government for the US. There would be plenty of bureaucrats who would push back against such a move, but being located among those they are impacting would combat the power-seeking and non-accountability described by Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy.