Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Liz Cheney is Running for Senate in Wyoming. Does Your City Have More People than Her New State?

Liz Cheney declared yesterday that she will be running for Senate in Wyoming against conservative Republican incumbent Mike Enzi.  Her father, Dick "He doesn't stab you in the back--he shoots you in the face" Cheney, served as the Representative-At-Large for Wyoming, from 1979 to 1989 although you might remember him from his more recent history as a war criminal, war profiteer, and the Vice President to George W. Bush during his two terms.

Liz actually lives in northern Virginia and only bought a house in Wyoming last year. But the people of Wyoming, hopefully, will welcome her as a liberator.

However, rather than going through all of Liz Cheney's familiar blend of neoconservative foreign policy, neoliberal economics, and rhetorical extremism, I want to highlight how small the state of Wyoming really is.

I'll address that by asking the question: Does your city have more people than the state of Wyoming?

Wyoming, the nation's smallest state and the one that makes Alaska look well-populated, has only 576,412 people (2012 estimate).  That's fewer residents than the 31 most populous U.S. cities:

(1) New York City: 8,336,697 (about 14.5 Wyoming's)
(2) Los Angeles: 3,857,799 (about 6.7 Wyoming's)
(3) Chicago: 2,714,856 (about 4.7 Wyoming's)
(4) Houston: 2,160,821 (about 3.7 Wyoming's)
(5) Philadelphia: 1,547,607 (about 2.7 Wyoming's) 
(6) Phoenix: 1,488,750    (about 2.6 Wyoming's)
(7) San Antonio: 1,382,951 (about 2.4 Wyoming's)
(8) San Diego: 1,338,348 (about 2.3 Wyoming's)
(9) Dallas: 1,241,162 (about 2.2 Wyoming's) 
(10) San Jose: 982,765 (about 1.7 Wyoming's)
(11) Austin, TX: 842,592
(12) Jacksonville, FL: 836,507
(13) Indianapolis: 834,852
(14) San Francisco: 825,863
(15) Columbus, OH: 809,798
(16) Forth Worth, TX: 777,992
(17) Charlotte, NC: 775,202
(18) Detroit: 701,475
(19) El Paso, TX: 672,538 
(20) Memphis: 655,155
(21) Boston: 636,479
(22) Seattle: 634,535
(23) Denver: 634,265
(24) District of Columbia: 632,323
(25) Nashville: 624,496
(26) Baltimore: 621,342
(27) Louisville, KY: 605,110 
(28) Portland, OR: 603,106
(29) Oklahoma City: 599,199 
(30) Milwaukee: 598,916
(31) Las Vegas: 596,424

All population numbers are 2012 estimates and refer only to the city proper, not the metro area.

Wyoming: 576,412 people, 2 Senators
DC: 632,323 people, 0 Senators

And therein lies (1) why the Senate is such an awful institution and (2) why the failure to grant DC voting representation continues to make a travesty of democracy.

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