Recently there has been an unusual amount of interest in expanding U.S. territory. A better idea: why not go REALLY BIG and relocate the Prime Meridian from Greenwich, England, to Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA? What better place than the historically highest navigable point on the longest, most storied, and greatest river in the world, the Mississippi?
How is this possible? Latitude is a function of the rotation of the Earth. Our planet rotates on its axis determining the North and South poles, and the Equator. Latitude is a measure of the north/south distances in between.
Longitude, however, is absolutely arbitrary.
When longitude was first understood sailors measured their position by degrees east or west of their port of departure. Later many countries established their own prime meridians. It was not until the First International Meridan Conference in 1883 in Washington, D.C., where longitude was fixed by convention as Greenwich, England.
This was a logical agreement at the time in the 19th century. Great Britain had an empire. By the 20th century Great Britain had lost its empire. Further, Great Britain has recently separated from Europe with Brexit. Today Great Britain is a mostly lonely island with a proud history.
The 20th century was the American Century. In the first half of the century we won two world wars. In the second half our record was 3-1-1. After the collapse of the Soviet Union we won the Cold War and became the global hegemon.
Greenwich is unreflective of its central importance in the world. You reach it through the Isle of Dogs, its town square comprises a few salons and an unseaworthy sailing ship in the middle of the square. The former Royal Observatory is an old house on a hill and is not handicap accessible.
Saint Paul will celebrate the Prime Meridian with an interpretive museum on Raspberry Island. Its centerpiece will be an atomic clock. Saint Paul native Paul Manship’s sculpture Unisphere from the 1964 World’s Fair, now stored in a warehouse in New Jersey, will mark the spot of the meridian.
Achieving the relocation of the Prime Meridian is straightforward. An act of Congress will establish the location of the Prime Meridian by law. The ensuing global uproar will be debated endlessly in the United Nations and other world organizations while the United States reprograms all the satellites in the world signaling GPS coordinates with the new longitudes. Eventually we win!
Why take over the Panama Canal, an interoceanic ditch on an isthmus that may soon run out of water? Why buy Greenland, a misnomer by Eric the Red and a vast expanse of ice and snow? Why take over Gaza, a remote outpost in the center of a restive Arab world? Why annex Canada, our best ally ever (at least since we attempted to invade them over a century ago)?
Carpe diem! Make the center of this great nation, the Mississippi River Valley, the center of the world! Imagine everyone everywhere setting their clocks and watches to Saint Paul mean time!
Jim Miller and Peter Kramer are members of the Metaphysical Club in Saint Paul.
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