They’re so out of touch that they don’t see the irony in the name “Washington Commanders.”
Our commanders in Washington, D.C., have named their football team after themselves. “Washington Commanders” is a perfect choice, given how they command the rest of the nation in what has become a de facto command-and-control economy and political system.
Other possibilities would’ve been just as apt, including “Washington Elites,” “Washington Plutocrats,” “Washington Scoundrels,” and “Washington Plunderers.”
It’s not surprising that the counties surrounding D.C. are some of the richest counties in America. What’s surprising is that Americans tolerate the disparity between their hometown and the nation’s capital.
Drilling down to the municipal level shows how wide the disparity is.
Take my adopted hometown of Tucson, Arizona. It has a poverty rate of 22.5% and a median household income of $43,425. By comparison, Chevy Chase, Maryland, has a poverty rate of 3.3% and a median household income of $181,929.
K-12 test scores track with income. So does crime.
No doubt, the residents of Chevy Chase pontificate about diversity and inclusion and oppose border restrictions. But their true sentiments about diversity can be seen in the fact that Hispanics comprise 6% of the population of Chevy Chase, versus 43.6% of the population of Tucson.
The local media in cities and towns throughout the provinces cheer when Amazon announces the building of a fulfillment center (warehouse) in their locale, to be staffed by workers earning between $15 and $20 per hour—a center that will reduce employment in brick-and-mortar retailers. But the provinces would be the last place that Jeff Bezos would choose to live or put a headquarters.
He put Amazon’s second headquarters next door to D.C. in Arlington, Virginia, where the median household income is $120,071. He didn’t put it in Wheeling, West Virginia, where the median household income is one-third of that.
Coincidentally or not, Bellevue, Washington, where Bezos started Amazon in his garage, to his credit, has a median household income almost identical to that in Arlington.
The Green Bay Packers is also an aptly-named team. Befitting the city’s blue-collar, industrial roots, the team was named after a meat-packing company. The average income in the city is $34,769, which pales in comparison to the average pay of $119,627 for federal employees in D.C., not counting benefits and the value of having almost absolute job security. No doubt, the approximately 12,000 lobbyists in D.C. are paid a lot more, on average.
Another apt name for Green Bay’s team would have been “The Green Bay Patsies,” considering how the commanders in Washington view the provincials. Actually, “Patsies” would be a good name for most teams outside of D.C.
