Despite the incredible number of annual fatalities its citizenry suffers while drunk-driving with gun-toting, bikini-clad, also-drunk alligators, Florida will very soon — perhaps as soon as Monday, when new Census estimates are released — overtake New York as the third most populous state in the country. It’s not that New York’s population is falling, but the lure of Florida — the lack of a state income tax, the warm climate, the lax murder laws, etc. — have simply given it a far higher rate of growth. The Times points out that this population trend will hurt New York in terms of congressional reapportionment and in “how billions of dollars in federal funding and grants are divvied up among the states.” Also, thanks to Florida, New York will no longer be able to claim that it is the most populous state “east of the Mississippi,” like some kind of old-timey gold prospector who uses the Mississippi as a national dividing line. Still, quality over quantity, you know?
