Should The President Move Out Of The White House?

October 1, 2012 in Daily Bulletin, Signature

Both the political parties in America, writes Frank Jacobs, want to change how Washington works. Nobody seems interested in changing where it works. Perhaps they should:

  • Washington DC was originally chosen as the United States’ capital because it was quite close to the geographic center of the 13 states that initially made up the union.
  • Since more states have been added to the union, the geographic center of the United States has changed. Now the center is in South Dakota if you include Hawaii and Alaska, and in Kansas, if you don’t.
  • Moving towards the center of the country would have a lot of symbolic value.

Moving capitals isn’t an unprecedented idea. The full article goes through several examples where the capital of a country was moved, a few where the capital of the country should be moved, and the few who by some strange feat of luck already have their capital at the center of their territory. You can find it here.

Source: Foreign Policy