Kennedy Ice- up for grabs

[jody2.718]

Fwiw,  about half the land in the western states is owned and managed by the Feds. I think almost 0 of New York State land is federal (except where there are office buildings).  Those western states which are under a lot of Fed control get 3 Congress people (1 Rep and 2 Senators).  New York has 27?

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Precisely. That's the whole political issue. Just three people representing huge swaths of land. If you're trying to control a representative government- representation based on population density and land ownership- and you're in the minority, what's the best strategy? Especially given the way the Constitution tilts toward land representation by giving the Senate inordinate power over the judicial branch and impeachment? But why should nearly uninhabited Federal Land get representation in the most powerful congressional body at all? If the land were truly federal, why is it treated like it's owned by, say,  600,000 people in Wyoming, who get to choose its senators as if they owned it? Why shouldn't the 35+ million people in California, or the rest of the country have a say in its representation, if it were truly federal?  For the same nefarious reasons, I'd say, that slaves were only worth 3/5 of white folks, and even then, allotted representation controlled by their presumed owners.

But those huge swaths of land will not remain pseudo-federal for long. Here's a graphic demonstrating the relative population growth rates of all the states in the past seven years:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population_growth_rate#/media/File:%25_Population_Chnge_by_state_from_2010_-_2017.png

While there are some interesting anomalies, it's pretty clear where the population is growing the fastest. I haven't been to Fargo in a while, but, FWIW, North Dakota is one of three states with the highest growth rate of at least 12%.

jody

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