W,

L3 has suggested trying to rope this runaway process in by trying to dismantle the bloated parts of Washington. For my part, I think the momentum is so great that the only chance may be to try and divvy up the huge apparatus and send some of that apparatus back to the States; thus restoring to some degree the checks and balances that may have vanished along the Potomac.

I’m not sure our two approaches are mutually exclusive. For instance, the idea of putting Congress “on the road” is a nod toward your suggestion of divvying up the Leviathan.

However, your post made me realize that I may be thinking too small. Perhaps major departments – State, Defense, Treasury, Commerce, etc. – can be dispatched to other States. There is actually an existing model for this sort of approach: the Federal Reserve Bank.

The Fed is actually a system of 12 regional banks with 25 branches. The New York Fed acts as a sort of “first among equals,” for three primary reasons: a) its President is a permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee; b) it has the largest asset base, since it is the regional that serves Wall Street; and c) it is the home of the Board of Governors.

Fact is, there is no good reason in today’s world of air travel and telecommunications for all of our political institutions to be based in one city. Proximity has flipped from being an asset to being a liability.

Most organizations try to co-locate important functions so as to maintain close contact that leads to a more cohesive culture. The effect is true in Washington, but the problem is that the cohesive culture is corrupted by cash and cronyism (nice alliteration, eh?). If we want to break that culture, we need to break the proximity effect.

The culture in Washington is supported by Washington: the Georgetown set, the media, and the lobby. These people all live together in the city, socialize together, send their kids to the same schools, attend the same events, etc. Any new entrants to this system are disadvantaged by the fact that they are outsiders, and the price of admission to the “cool crowd” is conformity to the culture of concupiscence and contempt for conservatives (again!). Politicians are social beings, and the need to belong overwhelms their original intentions.

So let’s break up the monopoly and literally send government back to the States. Here’s my suggested allocation:

Defense: San Diego (a lot of it’s there already, and turns our attention eastward)
State: Miami (plenty of empty condos on the beach for the diplomats)
Treasury: New York (where it is already)
Justice: Chicago (keeps travel costs low for future investigations)
Agriculture: Omaha (surrounded by customers)
Commerce: San Francisco (easier access to China)
Energy: Houston (home of the energy industry)
HHS: Minneapolis (home of the medical device industry)
Education: Boston (it’s hopeless anyway)
Homeland Security: Atlanta (big airport, CDC)
Interior: Denver (closer to all the land that has to be managed)
Labor: Memphis (the end of unions)
Veterans Affairs: Honolulu (easier to staff)
Transportation: Seattle (change the focus to technology)
HUD: Dallas (lots of real estate developers)
EPA: Cleveland (start at the source)
US Trade Representative: Las Vegas (that’ll lower trade barriers!)

Anyway, despite my attempts at levity, this is a serious idea worth exploring, IMHO.

It may seem like an impossible task. But so did slaying Smaug.

Now, where did I put that damn ring?

L3