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The managers are mostly located within the Beltway, however.
If 83% of federal jobs are already outside the Beltway, spreading the managers far and wide isn't going to have much impact on unemployment and it's certainly not going to make government run more efficiently (think of all the travel costs!).
Also, you'd still need a Capitol building for Congress to convene and offices close to it, which I assume would stay in Washington. By that simple fact, the lobbyists and many contractors would remain near the seat of power, no matter where various agencies are scattered.
If it's any consolation, Homeland Security is currently building their headquarters in Anacostia, the poorest part of DC with about a 30% unemployment rate (though showing signs of new life due to the renewed interest in city living). While many of those residents won't qualify for many of those jobs, it will bring 14,000 workers there every day with new retail and services being built to serve both them and the neighborhood residents, as well as provide service, retail, and security type job opportunities for residents who desperately need them.
So, your proposal can be implemented within DC and still have the same impact as you desire.
First, if the Founders had access to 21st Century tech and transport it would have made no sense for them to place everything in one small patch of land (the District of Columbia).
Second, we have to expand government because the other large corporations have moved jobs overseas and the government has to make up the loss.
The best way to do that is to spread the Federal government to EVERY county in America.
Of course there are government offices all over the U.S. but I'm talking about HQs.
For example, why not the Dept. of the Interior in Wyoming or HUD in Detroit or the EPA in Idaho or the DHS in Southern Arizona.
First, if the Founders had access to 21st Century tech and transport it would have made no sense for them to place everything in one small patch of land (the District of Columbia).
Second, we have to expand government because the other large corporations have moved jobs overseas and the government has to make up the loss.
The best way to do that is to spread the Federal government to EVERY county in America.
Of course there are government offices all over the U.S. but I'm talking about HQs.
For example, why not the Dept. of the Interior in Wyoming or HUD in Detroit or the EPA in Idaho or the DHS in Southern Arizona.
It makes sense.
Please provide a breakdown of the number of counties in the United States and the number of federal agencies. I don't think you'll find an even match.
The founders most certainly would have still built the capital the way they did. They could have easily put it in Philly or New York or Boston, but they purposely chose to put it between the North and the South and away from commerce. I think your proposal would undermine that.
The solution to our problems is not spreading government but in building new industries.
If you headquarter a federal agency in each of America's counties then you solve the problem of low employment AND no one would mind a growing federal government.
Win-win!
You're right, we don't need to be self-governing any more, not when the government will govern for us.
We (GE, GM, Apple, ExxonMobil) are already building new industries..in China, Vietnam, Singapore, Mexico, Dubai, Hong Kong, etc.
The U.S. government is the only "corporation" (if you will) that CANNOT be outsourced. By expanding it nationally you can hire actual American citizens who will get paid WITH BENEFITS in their OWN neighborhoods.
We (GE, GM, Apple, ExxonMobil) are already building new industries..in China, Vietnam, Singapore, Mexico, Dubai, Hong Kong, etc.
The U.S. government is the only "corporation" (if you will) that CANNOT be outsourced. By expanding it nationally you can hire actual American citizens who will get paid WITH BENEFITS in their OWN neighborhoods.
Hence the "win-win" situation
And that is what they were looking to accomplish when they brought in NAFTA (edit, and increased trade agreements).
I can't get a government job. I lost that right, when I in-completed my service as a VISTA (volunteer in service to America, National Community Service and a failure on their part to disclose that information to me, when I signed up to, make a difference.) I can't even get a job cleaning toilets at the local court house!
PS: your win-win does not apply to me, or the many of mes that are out there.
Last edited by Ellis Bell; 03-06-2011 at 12:21 PM..
Reason: ps, edit
And that is what they were looking to accomplish when they brought in NAFTA (edit, and increased trade agreements).
I can't get a government job. I lost that right, when I in-completed my service as a VISTA (volunteer in service to America, National Community Service and a failure on their part to disclose that information to me, when I signed up to, make a difference.) I can't even get a job cleaning toilets at the local court house!
PS: your win-win does not apply to me, or the many of mes that are out there.
There is a bit of controversy developing around this, but so as to not enter into that at this point, AmeriCorps.gov > AmeriCorps VISTA
"AmeriCorps VISTA is the national service program designed specifically to fight poverty."
Basically what I was getting at, is that the government, and that is a government program, they do not disclose everything that is important, to the individual. If I had know up front, I would never have entered into the program to, "make a difference".
The win-win in creating more government jobs so as to employ more people (btw, there is no splitting up the government, there are many departments and facets of the government but they all pivot around a common goal) would not help those who have in-completed an opportunity and have signed the paper that says, they will not pursue another government job (county, city, state, fed level) in the future.
So with out a private industry to create greater jobs, than the government can provide, some people would be screwed to find employment.
The proposal as I see it, is not exactly a win-win, at least, not for all Americans.
And yes, I feel like I let America down. If that is what they wished to have accomplished, they did it well.
I would support ending the federal government. After that we can move on to state and county governments, then city governments, until we've completely freed ourselves of government interference.
I would support ending the federal government. After that we can move on to state and county governments, then city governments, until we've completely freed ourselves of government interference.
I'm educating myself and thought I would share with you:
"The error which limits republican government to a narrow district has been unfolded and refuted in preceding papers. I remark here only that it seems to owe its rise and prevalence chiefly to the confounding of a republic with a democracy, applying to the former reasonings drawn from the nature of the latter. The true distinction between these forms was also adverted to on a former occasion. It is, that in a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person; in a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents. A democracy, consequently, will be confined to a small spot. A republic may be extended over a large region." The Avalon Project : The Federalist Papers : No. 14 (my underline of text)
We vote 'em in, because they tell us what we need to hear, so as to get that job. Then we play hell getting them (fired) back out again when they don't deliver what they said they would.
We were to be a 'self-governing' people so, are we or are we not, governing ourselves here in America?
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