The Case Against Delaware (2002)

I think this is also a reason why business prospers so much in places like Singapore and Hong Kong. Yes, not exactly democracies, but very easy to leave, so rule of law was the way to go. People can vote with their feet. Whereas tyranny on continents can really be entrenched for centuries.

I was born and raised in Delaware, so I will give my quick take on it.

> The State of Delaware had turned the East Coast’s main traffic artery into a sweltering parking lot merely so it could exact a tribute from each driver crossing its miserable little stretch of concrete.

Wow, the author has a lot of emotion for a supposedly one-time problem. Delaware pays for a little over 69% of its state and local road maintenance; the tolls help pay for it.

> The practice of charging road tolls is an archaic holdover blighting much of the Northeast.

Roads cost money to maintain, and eventually, replace. Tolls are supposed to help pay for this stuff.

> The whole paragraph on Gunning Bedford Jr.

Pointing fingers at anyone in the colonial era is objectively dumb. For example, Roger Sherman, a representative for Connecticut, helped write the 3/5 compromise, where slaves were counted as 3/5 of a human for voting purposes. Quick, Connecticut is evil incarnate, you should hate it.

> When the nation mobilized for the War of 1812, Delaware manufacturers, led by the du Ponts, demanded that their laborers be exempt from military service.

If the author did any research into the Du Pont company, they would know that the mills were gunpowder mills. Now, why would everyone want gunpowder mills to be run by their skilled employees in a war?

> Delaware voted against the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, which freed the slaves and gave them the vote and equal protection.

Yes, Delaware was racist, and some parts still are. However, as the author makes clear, this is not specific problem for Delaware, but a systemic problem throughout the US.

> Delaware also set itself apart through its fondness for medieval forms of punishment.

Okay, I honestly didn't know this stuff, and I did double check that it is generally accurate. It is shitty, but still it was 60 years ago.

>If a state wants to charge drivers for the cost of maintaining roads, tolls are a dubious way to do it—the traffic congestion they produce can be more costly than the toll itself.

Outdated; easy-pass barely has any effect on traffic.

> The rant about tolls

Blah, blah, Delaware is malevolent; Delaware is an abstract entity that doesn't have intent. It is a collection of any number of individuals who may fit or not fit with the author's view of Delaware.

> To nonresidents, of course, it makes not a whit of difference that our tolls finance Delaware’s airports rather than its schools.

Ironic, Delaware has no commercial airports; as I have already said, Delaware pays for a majority of its local and state road maintenance, which otherwise would come from the federal government. Guess, where that federal tax money comes from?

> Seizing the opportunity to exploit unwary consumers across the country, eight of the ten largest credit-card firms in the country now operate within Delaware. In the meantime, personal bankruptcy nationwide has risen sevenfold over the last two decades, and tens of millions of Americans send checks to Delaware every month.

There is no direct line of causation that the author even pretends to offer. This is textbook misdirection. Of course, people send checks to Delaware because that is where their banks are.

> But just after the Pennsylvania bank ceased its payday lending, a bank based out of Delaware opened up shop in its place.

I mean that could be related, but the author does not give enough evidence.

> The revenue stream is so large (relative to Delaware’s budget) that the state needs no sales tax.

Delaware also has quite high property tax; taxes are distributed differently in every state. Some states have high income tax, some have high sales tax; it doesn't matter which.

Okay, this is as far as a can stand to go. The author hates Delaware, I don't know why.

The service times are maximum turn around times—sort of an SLA. In practice it’s often much faster.

Those are legitimate concerns, but they're distant and relatively specific ones compared to the widespread practice of incorporating where you aren't.

tl;dr: "One day the author got stuck in traffic and developed an intense burning hatred for the state of Delaware. Here before you is a literary record of his subsequent descent into madness and paranoia."

Also from Delaware here. I'm a big fan of this article for its prose alone. This is one of the most entertaining things I've read in quite some time.

> Indeed, Delaware’s image as small and inoffensive is not merely a misconception but a purposeful guise. It presents itself as a plucky underdog peopled by a benevolent, public spirited, entrepreneurial citizenry. In truth, it is a rapacious parasite state with a long history of disloyalty and avarice.

I wish the Delaware History Museum could sell that on a mug.