Capitals are anachronistic—they hark back to a horse-and-buggy era, when politicians took days to reach the statehouse and cast their votes. We can wean ourselves from centralized government by rotating our capital—one month it can be in Houston, another in El Paso, and another (why not?) in Amarillo. While we’re at it, let’s get rid of politicians too. We don’t need so-called representatives anymore. We can phone in or e-mail our votes on legislation. Direct participatory democracy from the bottom up. That’s what we need.
Romo, a native of El Paso, is a historian and essayist.
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