Maryland, the New Jersey of DC

Maryland is to Washington, DC as New Jersey is to New York.

Not just that they are in proximity, more of a difference in the way of life and the people who live there.

I should qualify that statement, I've lived in both New York and New Jersey, therefore I am entitled to have an opinion on which is better.

Maryland is too close in proximity to it's northern neighbors for it's own good. There are too many similarities in government and attitudes between New Jersey and Maryland that one would hope. Not only that, there is an attitude of those who live and work in Washington that somehow Maryland is inferior to DC and Virginia.

Don't get me wrong there are some really really nice parts of Maryland and some very old and historically significant neighborhoods just outside the District. Yet when you're in Maryland there is a different feel to the atmosphere, a more "in your face" attitude and an all around disrespect for others that is less prevalent across the Potomac.

You find the same thing when you cross the Hudson from New York to New Jersey. While they are close in proximity there is a harshness about northern New Jersey that is unequaled in its neighbors to the east. Again, just like Maryland, New Jersey has some really nice neighborhoods and some very wealthy people, but the atmosphere there is also "in your face" and "I'll break your knee-caps."

Hence I will always in my mind associate the relationship of Maryland and Virginia to that of New York and New Jersey.