Over 200 Years On, Washington is Still ‘Broken’
January 19th, 2008
By WILLIAM KERN
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Is there anything new about American presidential candidates railing against a misguided, power-mad Washington? According to this analysis of the city’s history of abuse from France’s Le Monde newspaper, ‘It isn’t surprising that the capital is receiving some bad press. This, so to speak, is in its genes. The press immediately denigrated the city. Even in 1801, with 109 brick houses, the ‘federal city’ was judged too large, too expensive and too ostentatious. … Every presidential election sees the same anti-government theses and the same candidates who claim never to have set foot in Washington. But this year takes the cake.’
By Corine Lesnes, Translated By Kate Davis, January 16, 2008
France - Le Monde - Original Article (French)Washington has always considered itself a little like Rome. This is its destiny, it seems. One of the earliest arrivals was a certain Francis Pope. An English settler. In 1663, Mr. Pope settled on what is now Capitol Hill, and he believed he saw Rome at his feet. Bedazzled, he named his property after the Italian capital (the title can still be seen in the State Archives in Annapolis, Maryland).
Other sources claim that the man, who was an anti-Papist, was looking mainly to amuse himself. He enjoyed the effect it had when he introduced himself as: “The Pope.” “The Pope of Rome,” he would say, Pope being the anglicized version of Pape. He also changed the name of Goose Creek, which flowed through his land, to the Tiber. And he forecast a flourishing future for the capital of the New World, which is still overrun by groups who are passionate about the symbolic meaning of the local architecture.
Washington wasn’t built in a day. Between the act of Congress in 1790 that established the seat of the federal government on the banks of the Potomac [the Residence Act ] and the arrival of the administration (15 cabinet heads, 69 members of the Treasury, 12 employees of Congress …) it took ten years. No one was in a hurry to move into the middle of a swamp (cows weren’t banned on the Mall until 1826). And many, especially among the Jeffersonians, feared a shift toward more centralized government. A capital! With the power to levy taxes? So why not restore the monarchy? Ever prudent, the Founding Fathers were careful to limit the pretensions of “big government.” The Constitution (Article I, Section
defines the maximum size of the federal city: 10 miles square [100 square miles].
The press immediately denigrated the city. Even in 1801, with 109 brick houses, the “federal city” was judged too large, too expensive and too ostentatious. Too monarchial. It took the Civil War and the influx of troops and wounded for Washington to earn its stripes as the capital. A century and a half later it has exploded again, swollen with the bureaucracy of Homeland Security. As Francis Fukuyama, who published his own photos of the capital last summer in the magazine American Interest said, Washington “reflects the vision of Alexander Hamilton, not Thomas Jefferson .” A powerful government - just what American individualism mistrusts the most.
This long preamble is only to underscore that it isn’t surprising that the capital is receiving some bad press. This, so to speak, is in its genes. Every presidential election sees the same anti-government antiphons and the same candidates who claim never to have set foot in Washington. But this year takes the cake. Not since the Watergate scandal have the political class been held in such low esteem. The popularity of the Senate is still lower than that of George Bush. On the campaign trail, on the Democratic side as well as the Republican, we hear the same rallying cry: Washington delenda est! [Must Be Destroyed!]
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 19th, 2008 at 3:23 am and is filed under Mitt Romney, France, US Constitution, Newsweek Blogitics, John Edwards, Barack Obama, 2008 Elections, Congress, Democrats, Republicans, Politics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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