Year Two: The State of the States
Happy Birthday to Us! To celebrate, let's eat cake and rank the states!
Happy Birthday to us!
We launched this blog on President's Day last year and rolled out the wildly popular Presidential Rankings. Tens of tens of people read it. We couldn't be happier. You couldn't be happier. The world began to heal because we all got more competent and better looking by reading about history.
Okay?
Okay!
How do we follow up with such a debut?
Why don't we rank the states?
Brilliant!
STATES! STATES! STATES!
The states play a unique role in America. Obviously, they are important. They receive top billing in the nation's official name, but beyond that, they are an essential part of what it means to be American.
How so?
States are intensely passionate about being states.
States have tried to kill each other.
States can agree to come together to make the Union stronger.
States have cool things, like flags and official birds. They also have seals, so we created our seal for this project!
Brilliant!
How Will This Work?
What will be the criteria for ranking each state?
We have no idea.
But in the spirit of America, we are willing to be lobbied all year long! Think North Dakota is a top ten state because it led the country in job creation in 2013? Drop me a line!
Do you think it's crucial to rank states based on their affordability? Convince me this is important.
You want Florida to be a bottom-tier state because they light teens on fire, drown their children, or simply can't count ballots correctly; well then…well, that won't be too difficult to get me to do.
We've never ranked the states, but I feel this will be a fun project for 2022. We hope you enjoy it as well.
Okay, let's get started. We begin the state that isn't quite a state. After that, we will move from the bottom to the top.
NR: District of Columbia
Founded: 1790, then again in 1801, then somewhat again in 1973
The Good:
The District of Columbia was founded with the idea that the federal government could have a separate place from states, allowing the institution not to fall under the influence of just one particular state. Imagine people inside a state influencing the federal government! Like if the nation's capital was in Minnesota, and now we have the friendliest federal government, like, ever.
Instead, the founding fathers took some land along two rivers that kept those pesky Marylanders and Virginians away.
There's more to DC than the Federal Government. DC has its own music style and chili. It's also home to numerous monuments and the world's largest museum and research complex.
The Bad:
The Founding Fathers created the nation's capital to compromise between enslaved person-owning states in the South and banking interests in the North, who were eager to continue making money off the booming southern economy. There's no doubt DC has a very southern feel, which is strange when all you hear from the outside is how terrible it is. I thought the South was so great!
The Ugly:
The Compromise of 1850 abolished the slave trade in DC. That happened to be the year Milliard Fillmore was in office, and he never owned another person. Trek backward in time, and the only presidents who didn't enslave people in our formative years were John and John Quincy Adams. That's a heck of a beginning.
Today DC is predominantly African American at 45% compared to 42% white. Nicknamed Chocolate City, there is a trend that the black community will become the minority after holding 70% of the population in 1970 and 53% in 2009. I'm not smart, but I bet it has to do with how expensive it is to live here. People are crossing the rivers and becoming pesky Marylanders and Virginians.
Why did I rank it here?
Well, I can't rank a state that isn't a state in a ranking that is about states. Okay?
But DC is my home. On May 19, 1998, I moved to Maryland two days after I graduated from Xavier, and I finally made it into the District a few years later. After bouncing back and forth with work, life, and relationships, I have made the District my permanent home in 2018.
I firmly believe DC will eventually become a state. I'm not sure how exactly, but we have been moving closer to this possibility for many years. Eventually, DC will have a million residents within its borders, and I just can't see cutting out million people from participating in our system of self-rule.
It's a great place to live. I hope you can come out and if you do, be sure to drop me a line; I'm near everything.
Want to begin the lobbying? Comment below!