middleagedgamer
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2008
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Every major operation of the federal government is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Back when the United States first became a country, this was necessary in order to facilitate communication amongst the government officers, since neither Internet, nor even telephone, or even telegraph, existed at that time. Postal mail was the only method of long distance communication, and it was slow.
However, in this day and age, I am no further away, in terms of communication and the facilitation of information, than if you are standing right next to me. You can read this thread as quickly and easily as if we are kids passing notes in class.
I suggest that the United States federal government scatter its operations. All 535 Congressmen can operate out of their home or their own office. The nation is then divided into 16 districts of roughly equal land area. The President and Vice President set up office in one of those districts, and the 15 executive departments set up office in each of the remaining districts. The headquarters of a Department will not necessarily be in the same district as the headquarters of a subdivision within the department (e.g. the IRS will be headquartered in a different district that the Department of the Treasury).
Operations that are public record (such as Congress' meetings) can be done over the Internet, using webcams and Skype software. In the event that an operation needs to be secret, they can schedule meetings over the Internet, or using cell phones, and attend these meetings using taxpayer-provided private jets (which the President already gets, as part of the whole "secret service" thing).
I can see several benefits to this concept.
1. The Congressmen will now work in their constituents' own proverbial backyard. They will become more responsive, and, by proxy, less emotionally detached from the people. The people will also have a better, working knowledge of how their Congressmen are behaving in Congress, since they can now keep a much closer eye on them, without having to go too far out of their way.
2. This will happen for a lot of the executive branch, as well. With all fifteen departments scattered around the nation, the executive departments can bear witness to the fruits of their labor, first hand.
3. America has a lot of enemies. Osama bin Laden, Amadidijad, and (potentially) Hu Jintao, just to name a few (yes, even Hu Jintao. Obama may trust him, but I don't). Everyone remember Pearl Harbor? We had tons of military weapons in that one base; an attack on that caused a lot of damage. Granted, we struck back like never before, but, if said damage was done to the capital city, it really would be devastating. A nation with as many enemies as the United States cannot afford to have a political nerve center, like that. You can blow up the Twin Towers, and we'll strike back. You can blow up the Pentagon, or bomb a major military base, and we'll fight back with all our strength. But, if you destroy Washington, D.C. in its current state, you destroy the United States. Simple as that. That's like removing the brain (literally, why else do you think it's called the "nerve center?"). Scattering the operations would make accomplishing that a lot harder.
However, in this day and age, I am no further away, in terms of communication and the facilitation of information, than if you are standing right next to me. You can read this thread as quickly and easily as if we are kids passing notes in class.
I suggest that the United States federal government scatter its operations. All 535 Congressmen can operate out of their home or their own office. The nation is then divided into 16 districts of roughly equal land area. The President and Vice President set up office in one of those districts, and the 15 executive departments set up office in each of the remaining districts. The headquarters of a Department will not necessarily be in the same district as the headquarters of a subdivision within the department (e.g. the IRS will be headquartered in a different district that the Department of the Treasury).
Operations that are public record (such as Congress' meetings) can be done over the Internet, using webcams and Skype software. In the event that an operation needs to be secret, they can schedule meetings over the Internet, or using cell phones, and attend these meetings using taxpayer-provided private jets (which the President already gets, as part of the whole "secret service" thing).
I can see several benefits to this concept.
1. The Congressmen will now work in their constituents' own proverbial backyard. They will become more responsive, and, by proxy, less emotionally detached from the people. The people will also have a better, working knowledge of how their Congressmen are behaving in Congress, since they can now keep a much closer eye on them, without having to go too far out of their way.
2. This will happen for a lot of the executive branch, as well. With all fifteen departments scattered around the nation, the executive departments can bear witness to the fruits of their labor, first hand.
3. America has a lot of enemies. Osama bin Laden, Amadidijad, and (potentially) Hu Jintao, just to name a few (yes, even Hu Jintao. Obama may trust him, but I don't). Everyone remember Pearl Harbor? We had tons of military weapons in that one base; an attack on that caused a lot of damage. Granted, we struck back like never before, but, if said damage was done to the capital city, it really would be devastating. A nation with as many enemies as the United States cannot afford to have a political nerve center, like that. You can blow up the Twin Towers, and we'll strike back. You can blow up the Pentagon, or bomb a major military base, and we'll fight back with all our strength. But, if you destroy Washington, D.C. in its current state, you destroy the United States. Simple as that. That's like removing the brain (literally, why else do you think it's called the "nerve center?"). Scattering the operations would make accomplishing that a lot harder.