Comments (45) (Please sign in to comment)

1. 

   Ms. Ima said, 10 months ago

   She ate the mushroom?
2. 

   Fairportfan2 said, 10 months ago

   @Ms. Ima

   No, this was the gloves and fan.
3. 

   MortyForTyrant said, 10 months ago

   D.C. is a cesspool of corruption. Abandon it as capital and start a new city in the exact middle of the country. Wall it off so no lobbyist can get to the politicians. Build modern, efficient buildings to do the actual work of the people without the byzantine glamor and glory of Congress, Supreme Court and White House. Maintain these buildings and open them up for tourism. Government should govern, not grandstand like peacocks or do Kabuki theater…
4. 

   ScullyUFO said, 10 months ago

   Honest question: Does the exact middle include Alaska and Hawaii? Or would you weight by some other metric: population, taxes paid, income, etc.?
5. 

   Doughfoot said, 10 months ago

   “Washington is a city of northern charm and southern efficiency.” — John F. Kennedy
6. 

   ODon said, 10 months ago

   Which is more over the top the U.S. Capitol or the Vatican?
7. 

   onguard said, 10 months ago

   @MortyForTyrant

   You have it….Make D.C. a museum. Move Congress to the Dakotas in an old military base. House them in a barracks feed them in a mess hall. They stay there until they pass a budget and bills actual necessary. Then they go home and live with their Constituency.
8. 

   corzak said, 10 months ago

   @MortyForTyrant

   lol! Good idea!
   
   A U.S. Brasilia . . .
9. 

   corzak said, 10 months ago

   @ScullyUFO

   “Honest question: Does the exact middle include Alaska and Hawaii?”
   
   lol . . . "In 1959, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey officially designated a point 20 miles north of Belle Fourche (South Dakota) as the geographic center of the United States. It is the center . . . because the admission of Alaska and Hawaii . . . "
   
   Conveniently located off the I-90 . . .
10. 

    Jase99 said, 10 months ago

    “D.C. is a cesspool of corruption. Abandon it as capital and start a new city in the exact middle of the country. Wall it off so no lobbyist can get to the politicians.”
    
    Lobbyists are allowed by the Constitution. Politicians become crooks because they need money to get reelected, and stay crooks because people are too stupid to vote them out.
    
    “You have it….Make D.C. a museum. Move Congress to the Dakotas in an old military base.”
    
    Living in the Dakotas should be declared cruel and unusual punishment.
11. 

    emptc12 said, 10 months ago

    @MortyForTyrant

    That was a nicely written comment. Kabuki theater, perfect! Or Punch and Judy during election years. Sock puppets most of the time, though./

    Many government buildings were constructed in Greco-Roman style to show the grandeur of the American system to Old World aristocrats and their monarchies – much to their amusement. Reminds me of the cultural inferiority complex portrayed in the writings of Henry James, and Sinclair Lewis in DODSWORTH. It lingered until the last few decades in architecture, although we still have it in most of the other arts. /

    Such old, garish buildings are hard to maintain and hopelessly antiquated in many ways. Turn them over for use as craft shops and “junque” stores, or as outlets for foreign-made trinkets. /

    Or — A suggestion to solve that problem and also drain the cesspool or corruption: Secretly outsource the administration of Washington, D.C. to Hollywood interests, make it a theme park, staff it with anatomically-correct androids that seem to be doing government business but really are not. (They would be bound by Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics.) /

    They wouldn’t do any good but wouldn’t do harm, either. Ordinary citizens in town might notice things run better, and everything looks better. I doubt the politicians would realize at all (especially if their staff were anatomically correct). Simulate false reality of an outside world with piped in feeds that are mostly computer generated images. Lots of opportunities for staged dramas to entertain and inspire tourists./

    The real center of power would be an underground technology complex somewhere in South Dakota (a la “The Forbin Project), protected by cloaking technology, and run by Artificial Intelligence./

    Only a few computer geeks in residence would know about it. If we bribed them with unlimited Twinkies, computer games, compliant super models, and other sybaritic delights they’ll never tell. /
12. 

    midas welby said, 10 months ago

    @emptc12

    We could run with this fantasy for hours on end! Too bad it is merely fantasy. The juggernaut that is American politics is probably as unstoppable as it is unsteerable at this point. Careening towards the precipice…
13. 

    GreggW said, 10 months ago

    @corzak

    That worked out well, didn’t it? I’m guessing that’s your point.
14. 

    GreggW said, 10 months ago

    @midas welby

    And then?
15. 

    jack75287 said, 10 months ago

    @ScullyUFO

    If you want the middle of the lower 48 Kansas City has it taken.
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