Tennessee Rep. Jim Cooper’s recent op-ed column in a local paper offered an interesting question – is it time to build another Arlington National Cemetery out west?

Cooper contends it will accommodate families who live far from Washington, D.C. facing financial hardship to visit their loved ones in Arlington, Va. Cooper also believes it will help extend the use of Arlington, which is running out of burial space. It depends on whose figures you use over when Arlington will be filled, but let’s just say those eligible now will be buried there. It’s the next generation that might not.

Currently, only those killed in active duty, retired military or reserve, elected officials, Medal of Honor, Bronze Star, Silver Star, and Purple Heart winners and surviving spouses and children of those already buried (and a couple other subcategories) may be interned so the cemetery’s use is being squeezed as much as possible. It wouldn’t surprise me if some extra spaces are found on the end of rows, but that’s a token move.

It’s not a matter of if, but when for deciding what to do whenever Arlington is filled. Do we need another major national cemetery when there are 96 state veterans cemeteries while Veterans Affairs maintains another 131 in 39 states? The National Park Service has 14 national cemeteries. The American Battle Monuments Commission Cemeteries oversees 24 abroad with 125,000 American dead.

The mistaken belief Arlington is the one and only national cemetery shouldn’t necessarily fuel its duplication. You can’t create an Arlington 2 like some theater chain.

I lead tours through Arlington regularly and it never fails to overwhelm tourists of all ages. Foreigners are often surprised they can walk through it. When visitors see a caisson roll by, it is a stirring moment.

But does the historic value of Arlington need to be replicated? Calling a new cemetery Arlington West undermines the current one. A new Arlington still wouldn’t have a slain president’s eternal flame, the Tombs of the Unknown or the Lee mansion. It wouldn’t have the nation’s history through the rows.

Congressman Cooper’s idea isn’t completely wrong. A new national cemetery in California is fine. Just pick another name for it.