That is… a remarkable shift.
Deep in a recent report, for example, the American Legislative Exchange Council tabulated how the drop in population relative to the rest of the nation cut the region’s power in Washington. While the states from Pennsylvania to Maine had 141 House members in 1950, they are down to 85 today, a drop of some 40 percent.
And I fully expect that in eight years I’ll be hearing more about how the 2020 Census is going to shift power away from the Northeast even further. Which is going to tick off a lot of Northeasterners, but not as much as it will the Californians when they find out that they’re going to lose a seat for the first time. Continue reading The Northeast is dying on the vine.