The author, Ross Douthat, is no leftist; he's one of the house conservatives at the New York Times. You're missing the satiric tone of his "hinterland" comments

The author, Ross Douthat, is no leftist; he's one of the house conservatives at the New York Times. You're missing the satiric tone of his "hinterland" comments. EDIT: Just saw your own edit; glad you re-read the article. Douthat's suggestion to distribute some now-centralized federal government functions to other cities is worth considering. It would make the American national society less vulnerable if Washington D.C. were to be taken out by a man-made or natural disaster. Of course, there'd be costs to consider as well, along with unforeseen consequences. EDIT: As to unforeseen consequences, liberal (and Nobel-laureate) economist Paul Krugman tweets: "Interesting piece. But if u think decentralizing govt will break hold of big cities, two words: Albany. Trenton." [0] [0] https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/846097749519093760 https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/846097749519093760