A New Englander’s first reaction to news like this is to sound the alarm:

The Northeast, once the nation’s political engine that produced presidents, House speakers and Senate giants including the late Edward M. Kennedy, is losing clout in Washington as citizens flee the high-tax region, according to experts worried about the trend. …

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.

Upon reflection, what we see here is the American system of government working.  New England policies aren’t policies for families and growth.  They’re policies for a ruling elite and an underclass to serve it.  In the long-term, they’re policies for stagnation and decline.

I’ve said before that I think the illness that infects the Northeast has spread to the national body, and it may be incurable.  But maybe, just maybe, the shift in population and representation will slow the contagion long enough for a cure to be found.