Many Americans still burdened with constitutional rights

[james_davis_nicoll]

Using data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ACLU has determined that nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders.

The government is assuming extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals within this zone. This is not just about the border: This " Constitution-Free Zone" includes most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas.

Is the claim that "nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders" correct? That would seem to require that the rest of the country contains slightly over 1/3rd of the population and since my incredibly untrustworthy eye thinks the first area is much smaller than the second, it implies even lower population densities than I expected for the interior regions.

Comments

[geekosaur]

Once you get away from bodies of water you have an even bigger problem: mass shipping becomes a lot harder and more expensive when you can't use ships. (Yep, it's called that for a reason.)

This is a really big part of why most of the population is in "coastal" areas (including the Great Lakes). Were I cynical about the US government, I would suspect they know this full well and it was a major part of their planning.

(and guess what, I am cynical.)