If there were no Washington DC, where should the capital be?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Assume for the moment that something similar to the "Ring of Fire" from the 1632-verse causes Washington, DC to be removed from the map.  (Let's call it the Square of Ice and it wipes away the 10 square mile area of the original DC so that the Pentagon is gone as well.)

So, with the US needing a new capital, where should it go?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Two logical locations are Chicago and St. Louis.

[afleitch]

Philadelphia.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Philadelphia.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Assuming they didn't want to keep it in the same general area to the greatest extent humanly possible (in which case I'd agree with Philadelphia), somewhere in the Rocky Mountains might be a logical location; there's a ton of military infrastructure in Colorado and Wyoming, which I imagine would wax tremendously important in the public and political consciousness in the event of something as traumatic as the 1632-style destruction (or transfer?) of Washington.

[Napoleon]

Honolulu for obvious reasons.

[Хahar 🤔]

Chicago seems most reasonable.

[Likely Voter]

Maybe create a brand new city and Federal District (ala Brasília). Maybe use a tract of Federal land somewhere and start from scratch.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I imagine that they'd choose a different 10X10 square along the Potomac instead.

[seanNJ9]

If we are going for center of the country geographically, Kansas City is your best bet.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Philadelphia, New York City, and Baltimore would likely be considered, because I believe they're each former locations of the capital.

But if I had to choose - Atlanta, Baltimore, or Charleston, SC.

[TNF]

Philadelphia is the obvious choice for historical and foundational reasons, but I would personally like to see it in the midwest, preferably St. Louis.

[Hash]

Islamabad, naturally. The President is a Muslim, you see.

[© tweed]

Honolulu

[Paul Kemp]

Philadelphia
NYC
Chicago
St. Louis
Kansas City

[ajc0918]

Islamabad, naturally. The President is a Muslim, you see.

this made me lol

[LastVoter]

Somewhere in a triangle between Denver, SLC and Missoula.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia,_Pennsylvania

[memphis]

I'd like a pragmatic choice. Somewhere centrally located with a low cost of doing business. Would I get death points for trolling if I suggested Oklahoma?

[tmthforu94]

Put it in KCK, there is certainly the space for it.

[bballrox4717]

New York City. In my experience abroad, you ask anyone outside of the US what they think the most important city is and they all say NYC. I think Philadelphia and Boston are also fantastic choices for historical reasons.

[memphis]

New York City. In my experience abroad, you ask anyone outside of the US what they think the most important city is and they all say NYC. I think Philadelphia and Boston are also fantastic choices for historical reasons.

Where in NYC? Not a whole lot of real estate available. Maybe could do some hardcore slum clearance/eminent domain in the Bronx. Still would be astronomically expensive.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Lynchburg, Virginia


/obscure John Carpenter reference

[Indy Texas]

New York City. In my experience abroad, you ask anyone outside of the US what they think the most important city is and they all say NYC. I think Philadelphia and Boston are also fantastic choices for historical reasons.

Making your largest, most economically important city serve as a center of government generally hasn't worked well, historically. Particularly in Africa and South America, it creates what you might call a "Panem effect" - the political elites are surrounded by the bulk of the population and the bulk of the economic power, and, hoping to maintain power, they govern in a way that, at best, keeps the capital wealthy while being indifferent to the rest of the country, or, at worst, enriches the capital at the expense of the rest of the country.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

New York City. In my experience abroad, you ask anyone outside of the US what they think the most important city is and they all say NYC. I think Philadelphia and Boston are also fantastic choices for historical reasons.

Where in NYC? Not a whole lot of real estate available. Maybe could do some hardcore slum clearance/eminent domain in the Bronx. Still would be astronomically expensive.

You could kick out the UN and have their building do something useful for a change.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia,_Pennsylvania

It would be a timely choice.

I like the idea of Cairo, tho it would be a bit cramped inside the levees.