National Enormity, Actually Not About Fat People

I didn't post yesterday because I was traveling (I don't have an excuse for Monday other than bad memory).

I drove from Minnesota to Florida yesterday, a trip that took about 21 hours. Afterward I determined that I had traveled to or through 20 states in my life. A decent number for a person who has only lived in three.

It was about 70 degrees in Florida today, and I spent much of a day in early March laying on the beach, reading my Kindle next to a pool. For a kid who grew up used to seven foot piles of snow on his front lawn, this is kind of like a Big Deal. Capital letters intentional.

See what that got me thinking about after the jump.

Government Scope and Manifest Destiny

The United States is a big country.

In point of fact, it is the third largest country in the world. When compared with the two countries larger than it, Russia and Canada, America has over twice the amount of people as the former, and nearly ten times the amount of the latter, packed into a smaller area.

That's not to say there is a problem with overpopulation in America. It could be argued, of course, but it's not near the issue as it is in, say, China with its 1.3 billion, or India with its 1.1 billion. The problem is with governing a body of land so large, with the number of people so dense.