And yet despite the taxes gathered from the area, Richmond does not give back a fair share of general and transportation funds commensurate with population and wealth distribution. Many of the good ol' boys in Richmond - usually educated at UVA, playing golf in Richmond's country clubs, are of the traditional Confederate blue blood families. They view the upstarts in Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, etc. as a bunch of newcomer Yankees who would not be wanted in the same state if they didn't make so much money. Northern Virginians view the rest of the state as if it was comprised of a bunch of bumpkins who can barely read and write. So there is often talk of the northern part of the state seceding and Richmond remaining blithely ignorant of the transportation crisis that affects a third of its population. Richmond, of course, can get away with it because the Federal government will draw populations into the state who will pay their taxes.
And so unlike most of the rest of the states in the Union - who typically have a single dominant metropolitan area that influences heavily the governance of the state, Virginia is affected by the gravitational pull of the national government and the more traditional institutions and clubs of the Old Dominion centered around Richmond.
In between the two are bewildered commuters like me plotting retirement elsewhere.
I never thought I would ever consider commuting in New Jersey/New York to be a better alternative for rush hour than DC. But it's true.
In the end, I think George Washington should have located the Federal Government in Richmond. Then the state wouldn't have the problem it currently has, the Civil War would not have seen Virginia secede. And if Virginia didn't secede, the Civil War would have barely lasted a year.
So I blame George Washington for this mess...
