NationStates

It's what it says on the label: should the US capital be moved out of Washington?

The US Constitution does not say that Washington, DC has to be the nation's capital, but rather that Congress must set aside a district, not to exceed 10 sq. mi. that will be under the jurisdiction of no state to serve as the capital. I will here give some pros and cons (from off the top of my head.

Pros:

1 A more convenient location.
Washington was decided upon to become the US capital "in the room where it happened", in order to have a more central position in the then 13 states, but over 200 years and a crossed continent later, its rather, eastern, shall we say. Its safe to say it would be more convenient for traveling Congressmen and Congresswoman and to put it in a more central position, like the Great Plains. I've even heard people advocate putting it where the four states touch, but if I'm thinking correctly that's reservation land and we've probably taken enough from the natives.
2 A more politically neutral location.
It's no secret that Washington is in a very Democratic, liberal region. It may be a good idea to move it to a purple state.
The State of Columbia.
3 If Congress moves out of the District, then there's not much preventing them from becoming a state (except Republican Congress members, but we could always do something like the Missouri Compromise again to balance things out).
4 A modern city.
We could rebuild the new capital city to be modern, using the latest technologies to create a modern city, and I just got writer's block on this one. Green! We could make a model eco friendly city! Ok, now the writer's block is back.

Cons:

1 Having to move everything.
This one's obvious. All the paperwork. All the archives and records and whatnot. Everything has to be moved.
2 Having to build everything.
Imagine how much it would cost to build an entirely new city from scratch. After all, we'd need a replacement for the Pentagon, Supreme Court, Executive Mansion, Library of Congress, National Archives, to name a few. And that's not even touching on all the new monuments, airports, railway systems, roadways, pipelines, powerstations, and other infrastructure necessary for such a city.
3 Our national history
Obviously our present capital is very historical. (Writer's block is hitting me again.) What with all the monuments, it being burned in the War of 1812, the Smithsonian, Ford Theater, etc., its chock full of our nation's history and culture.

Anyways, whatdyou think about moving the capital? On the one hand, I think its a politically smart idea. On the other hand, we're too much in debt to afford this.

PS: Sorry if the writings a bit crude, i suffer from chronic writersblockosis.

No.

Yes

Why?

Cool, politics. Tradition outweighs it - we've been in Washington for centuries at this point.

It should be moved to Colorado for more security in the center of the nation

The capital is fine where it is imo.

Move it in between the Idaho and Oregon border. Helps entice the greater Idaho movement

It should be moved exactly two feet to the left.

No, it is good as it is.

I don't really see the effort and cost in building a new capital to be more neutral and more modern. I like to spend money, but mostly on things that can actually help us, for example infrastructure or education. Besides, it is easier to develop D.C to be more modern than to be built modern. Easier travel isn't a good reason because this is the 21st century. Congressmen and other government officials have access to medium-speed trains, (assuming that High-Speed Rail isn't developed in the US outside of the Northeast any further) planes and for someone in the Northeast, the High-Speed Acela Express. It's rare (for people in the Continental US, more common for people from Guam, Hawaii, Alaska and other US territories) for someone in the US to take more than 24 hours to reach DC.

personally while i hate the fact that Washington D.C is a deep blue cesspool of political garbage, I do not believe that is sufficient reason to move the capitol of the United States from where it is for (of many other reasons) the reason of "it doesnt align with my political group". As meaningless as it seems, the only way youre going to move the political makeup of DC towards the center is by voting for candidates based on policy and not based on feelings, race, gender, or creed like is all too often seen right now.

The reason things are as politically volatile as they are right now is because the communists control the democratic side and the nationalists control the republican side. And its because in reaction to one side voting for garbage politicians, the other side does the same. Unfortunately, NS is just reddit for communists so i doubt that any rational folk will take my opinion in a respectful and balanced manner.

Washington D.C has far too much invested into it for a moving of our national capitol to make sense. Here is why in my opinion:

A - Building Shit: Moving the capitol would mean essentially rebuilding tons of shit. From a new congressional building to a new white house. Not to mention things like the WWII memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and other things that really deserve to be built a place befitting of their prestige and gravity. Building or even just moving this stuff would be an economic and logistical nightmare. The US is $30 Trillion in debt with an inflation rate that averages right now between 6% - 8% by most economic metrics. Funding such a move would cost tons of money, and probably require yet another tax hike.

B - Political Standing: Moving the capitol would be a massive political issue. Both sides would bitch and moan that the new location is not liberal/conservative enough, or they'll claim its racist or woke or something of the sort. We are so politically polarized right now that moving the capitol would only make it worse, and honestly, an armed civil war seems almost inevitable if you attempt to move the Capitol

C - World Standing: This actually kind of doubles back to my first point. Moving the capitol and trying to reconstruct what we already have would tie up a huge amount of resources that are needed to do things like fight a stupid proxy war in ukraine and stave off the communist menace in China. If we were to move the national capitol, tying up manpower and resources, and somehow avoid a civil war in the process, china, russia, and iran would see it as a perfect opportunity to ramp up their various efforts against us. Be it more fighter jets over our airspace, naval fleets around the waters of our allies, or a full scale war.

D - Historical Significance: D.C has been the capitol of the US since 1790. There has been loads of historical events and significance bestowed upon DC. We have built every monument that ever mattered to this nation in DC, the bloody white house got burned to the ground in the war of 1812, and DC is the location of the Million Man March, and where Dr. King gave his most iconic and arguably most important speech. Amongst other historical events, DC is too historically valuable to have the capitol moved somewhere else and be forced to start over.

The only other places that make sense, that have the historical, cultural, and economic value would be New York City or Richmond, and both of those places have issues. New York City is a democratic stronghold, which doesnt solve your complaint of political partisanship, and Richmond was the capitol of the Confederacy, which again, doesnt solve your complaint of political partisanship.

These are just a few things i could think of off the top of my head. I could probably think of more, but hopefully this is enough to perhaps persuade you that moving the Capitol, while an interesting idea, is not necessarily a feasible or even a good one.

To make a long story short, (and a tldr for those who cant read above a 4th grade level or cant be courteous enough to read the whole thing) No, the capitol shouldnt be relocated. DC works perfectly fine as the location for our seat of government, has done so for over 2 centuries. We have built our nation's history, identity, and personality in DC, and it makes little sense to me, that it should change now.

there doesn't seem to be any reason for a relocation

Yes. It should be returned to London at once, and the King's full and divinely rightful authority over the prodigal erstwhile colonies should be restored.

Tangatarehua wrote:Yes. It should be returned to London at once, and the King's full and divinely rightful authority over the prodigal erstwhile colonies should be restored.

Yes!

the US capital and all 50 states should be relocated to Guam

The Nippon Teikoku wrote:Unfortunately, NS is just reddit for communists

So true! Probably my new favorite forum quote.

lmao

Yes, to Sacramento.

I think the US Capitol should be federated and spread across the country.

The Executive and State Department can be kept on the east coast but moved to Ryker's Island.

The Office of the Vice-President could work out of the Laugh Factory in Chicago.

Department of Justice and FBI can be moved to Hollywood since they like editing exculpatory evidence out of footage.

The rest of the executive administrative apparati can be moved to the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp and Guantanamo Bay.

The Senate could be moved to the western US at Alcatraz Island connected by rowboat.

The House of Representatives can be moved to the remote central Rockies like outside of Lake City Colorado connected by hiking trail where the Representatives must pack out every thing they bring in at the end of each session.

Keep the archives, Smithsonian, Library of Congress where they are.

The Supreme Court could be moved around at random on various Navy Ships to confuse enemies of Justice.

That's all I've got.

Love it where it is.

List of candidate cities:
NYC
LA
Boston
Atlanta
SanFran
Seattle
Portland
Salt Lake
Dallas
Denver

Cachard Calia wrote:List of candidate cities:
NYC
LA
Boston
Atlanta
SanFran
Seattle
Portland
Salt Lake
Dallas
Denver

As much as I'd like to brag about it being here in Boston, answer's gonna be a no on that one.

Cachard Calia wrote:List of candidate cities:
NYC
LA
Boston
Atlanta
SanFran
Seattle
Portland
Salt Lake
Dallas
Denver

Whats the reasoning behind these

Unmet Player wrote:

Cachard Calia wrote:List of candidate cities:
NYC
LA
Boston
Atlanta
SanFran
Seattle
Portland
Salt Lake
Dallas
Denver

Whats the reasoning behind these

Big well positioned cities with some amount of history and good infrastructure

The US capital should be Ottawa, oh yeah, y'all know where I'm going with this

As a Canadian with no horse in this fight, I don't think the US capital should be relocated.

If the people in Congress want something more convenient, they should just go fully online, and operate via Skype or whatever it is that everyone's using to meet virtually in these times. That way, they would never have to leave their constituencies, the Capitol can be turned into a museum dedicated to American political history, and Congress' work of... whatever it is can continue entirely unimpeded by travel times.