Time to move the capital

According to a 2009 Washington Post article, there are 435 congressmen and 100 senators in Washington, D.C., yet there are over 34,000 lobbyists. As most of these lobbyists are paid well over 6 figures to peddle influence with huge bankrolls, there is a huge tolkein-ish temptation for elected representatives to forget their constituencies whilst immersed in a sea of money, sex and power. This affliction is commonly referred to as "marble dust fever." As if this isn't bad enough, the location is drastically outdated geographically for the size of the country.

Concurrently, the Russian Sqvall (Squall) VA-111 rocket torpedo has recently been put on the international arms market which means the Capital can be destroyed by a growing number of ambitious nations. Communist China, North Korea and Iran come to mind. If you are not familiar with any of this, there are plenty of computer search engines which can provide well-documented articles about these subjects.

What are the options? First, move the Capital to a more central location of the United States. Washington, D.C., was made the Capital in 1790. The country has grown and changed quite a bit since then. And that wasn't the first location. New York and Philadelphia preceded it as the nation's capitol. Virginia never did donate their part of the "diamond," so the Capital at Washington, D.C., has never really been completed anyway.

Currently, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have unfair access and influence because of their geographic proximity.

Secondly, after determining a new location, plan for the new Capital to be prepared for nuclear attack; have equal housing for all congressmen and senators the same distance from the house and senate with staff and office size equal. The current helter-skelter, 19th Century layout of D.C. lends it to influence peddling by divvying up plum locations for home and work.

Next, pass legislation making it a felony and have stiff fines if one tries to offer food, drink or any other compensation to elected representatives while they are in session - much like it is for drug dealers caught selling within 1,000 feet of a school.

I would like to see the new location somewhat remote, such as the four-corners (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona) area near the Navajo Reservation. Far from the influence peddling and distractions of large cities. And while I'm scribing this wish list, let's do away with congressional retirement plans and let them have the same, swell health care plan to which the rest of us have been strapped.

Washington, D.C., could then revert back to Maryland and many of the buildings could be museums, much like Rome was after the Roman Capital was moved to Constantinople (Istanbul), or Kyoto when the Japanese Capital was moved to the "new Capital" of Tokyo.

If the Capital isn't moved, there is the real threat that it will be destroyed by a "Squall" type weapon delivered by a Rogue nation. In addition, the Nation is so polarized and in debt that by keeping it a semiprivate watering hole for the Eastern States, that a third American Secession might be the byproduct. The First resulted in the separation from the English Crown. The second in the fraternal destruction of the fiscally weak South by the wealthy North. The difference between the second secession and the third would be that the "north" is broke and withered while the discontented, primarily Western and Midwestern States, are young and fiscally vibrant. While the pros and cons of this concept can be argued ad infinum, wouldn't it make a lot more sense just to move the Capital and preserve the Union?

Richard Le Francis is a Coeur d'Alene resident.