How would you redraw the US states?

[The Blaatschapen]

Remember how this thread is about imagined changes to the US states, and not about British police?

Sure, but after a hard Brexit, the UK will be broke, so we can probably buy most of Blighty -- maybe even the whole thing -- so we get to argue about making it into states. I mean, will the US need Northern Ireland as a state? Maybe merge it with Boston or something. (Yes, Boston's a city. So?)

The commute for the local NI councilmen to Boston city hall will take up half of Boston's budget

[Nevv Vegas]

Gerrymander it so that the Green Party wins every election. More seriously i would look into Arizona and New Mexico, the reason they are the way they are is because the north feared southern influence over the Four States Area. Also reunite the Virginias and bring Jefferson into existence.

[Western Vale Confederacy]

Resurrect Norton I to lead the Empire of America, raise Huey Long from the dead to lead the American State, or recognize me as America's saviour and allow me to create the Commonwealth of America!

Easy as shit!

[Wallenburg]

19 houses =/= Literally having entire states swallow entire other states, or breaking states into several other states.

What's unrealistic about this thread is how people have attempted to run with it rather than the actual idea.

Don't tell me what I've already told you.

1) If you are going to say this thread is unrealistic, then don't bring up random shit about miniscule border adjustments as if it compares to the idea of this thread.
2) Don't tell me what I've already told you.

In a thread about a totally unrealistic scenario, I don't really see the value in calling out conservatives on congressional supermajority wet dreams.

[Sahansahiye Iran]

Also reunite the Virginias

Y'all need to stop with this We have absolutely zero desire to be united with WV.

[The Galactic Liberal Democracy]

What if we have Canada annex the US?

Good idea. Not too much of a stretch, right now I’m close enough to the Canadian border.

[Western Vale Confederacy]

Also reunite the Virginias

Y'all need to stop with this We have absolutely zero desire to be united with WV.

One plows fields, the other plows their cousin...

Same darn thing really.

[Rio Cana]

Y'all need to stop with this We have absolutely zero desire to be united with WV.

One plows fields, the other plows their cousin...

Same darn thing really.

You have angered the Virginians. This means next time you need to go somewhere by road to a Northern or Southern point that they might make you detour hundreds of miles around Virginia.

[Cekoviu]

One plows fields, the other plows their cousin...

Same darn thing really.

You have angered the Virginians. This means next time you need to go somewhere by road to a Northern or Southern point that they might make you detour hundreds of miles around Virginia.

I already do that tho

[Forsher]

Don't tell me what I've already told you.

1) If you are going to say this thread is unrealistic, then don't bring up random shit about miniscule border adjustments as if it compares to the idea of this thread.
2) Don't tell me what I've already told you.

In a thread about a totally unrealistic scenario, I don't really see the value in calling out conservatives on congressional supermajority wet dreams.

You see, I haven't whereas you have.

What you're saying is "this whole thing is completely stupid". What I am saying is "the only unrealistic thing about this is how total the overhauls are". That's disagreeing with you. Unfortunately when you then respond with "19 houses isn't what's being discussed in this thread" you are then attempting to use the evidence I am using to show you that (a) the idea isn't unrealistic and (b) the scale of the thread's proposals are to demonstrate just (a). This is idiotic when you consider (c) what my point actually is and, even worse, (d) it relies on 19 houses not being similar to the thread.

Moral of the story? Don't quote mine.

[Northwest Slobovia]

Sure, but after a hard Brexit, the UK will be broke, so we can probably buy most of Blighty -- maybe even the whole thing -- so we get to argue about making it into states. I mean, will the US need Northern Ireland as a state? Maybe merge it with Boston or something. (Yes, Boston's a city. So?)

The commute for the local NI councilmen to Boston city hall will take up half of Boston's budget

Good point! We clearly need to saw NI off from the rest of Ireland and tow it to Boston harbor. With the reduced travel costs, the move will pay for itself in no time, and that answers the silly non-continguous objection to NI being a part of Boston.

[Xmara]

Gerrymander it so that the Green Party wins every election. More seriously i would look into Arizona and New Mexico, the reason they are the way they are is because the north feared southern influence over the Four States Area. Also reunite the Virginias and bring Jefferson into existence.

I bet I could gerrymander it so that the US Marijuana Party controls the North and the Prohibition Party controls the South. Sure there will be some really weird state lines and a complete destruction of the Republican and Democratic Parties, but I think with enough force we can make it work.

I’m tired right now which means I get weird ideas.

[Great Celestial China]

The Oregon Territory, Alaska and New England gets annexed by Canada, the western half, up to Wyoming, gets puppeted by China and all the rest goes to Britain.

[Boring People]

Hello NationStates,

How would you redraw the United States to make each state more representative of the overall culture of the people living there? Would you split some states apart? Put some together? What lines would you redraw?

I would split Texas in East and West, and I would then combine East Texas with Louisiana, make a "Gulf Coast State". I would maybe Gulf Coast of Alabama and Northern Florida.

I would also combine northern Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee.

And would combine Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia and DC.

And would combine Oregon and Idaho and Washington.

And so forth... How would you redrawn states?

I can't say I'd change much. It might be too late at this point to redo the whole country - states generally seem to identify pretty well with the boundaries as they are now. At the same time, there are a few adjustments that could be made.

First off, there's the Delmarva Peninsula. In addition to Delaware, it includes portions of Maryland and Virginia that are somewhat isolated from the rest of their states. I measured driving distances from a place in the northern part of the Virginia section. It was 180 miles from Richmond, but only 97 miles from Dover. You could give the whole thing to Delaware.

There's also the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They are distinct culturally, ethnically, geographically and climatically when compared to the rest of Michigan. The area even has its own dialect. It would just kind of make sense to turn this area into another state, and it's even been given a potential name - Superior.

Another pretty obvious north-south distinction can be made in New York. The City is almost another world when compared with the rest of the state. The largest city in the country (by far) can be pretty easily split from the large swaths of rural countryside and much smaller cities of the north. It wouldn't make much sense for Upstate residents to have a state name derived from City history, though, so they'd need something other than New York or New Amsterdam. Maybe Niagara would work. This seems like a good illustration of what might happen in that scenario:

Another possibility would be for Idaho to give its eastern section to Utah, but I don't necessarily advocate this one. Eastern Idaho contains more conservative Mormons than the rest of the state, which is more libertarian. Idaho is probably divided by politics and religion more than anything else, and not to the degree other places may be.

[Jinkyr]

Make cities with populations over 500,000 separate from their states for certain electoral purposes. They could have their own congressional seats, electoral votes, and such but their votes would be limited towards the election of Senators to ensure that the whole state and simply the most populous areas are equally represented in the Senate.

[Belgaam]

I would make Louisiana mixed with Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi, the tornado alley would be mixed together, Florida would become a state in Mexico and Alaska and Montana would become provinces in Canada.

[A Rosa]

Give Quebec and all of French Louisiana back to France,
Give Spain Florida and all its "Mexican territory"
Give Britain back the 13 colonies and the rest of Canada apart from Quebec

oh and I almost forgot give Massachusetts to Ireland cause there's so many Irish there anyway ya might as well.

[Skeckoa]

Hello NationStates,

How would you redraw the United States to make each state more representative of the overall culture of the people living there? Would you split some states apart? Put some together? What lines would you redraw?

I would split Texas in East and West, and I would then combine East Texas with Louisiana, make a "Gulf Coast State". I would maybe Gulf Coast of Alabama and Northern Florida.

I would also combine northern Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee.

And would combine Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia and DC.

And would combine Oregon and Idaho and Washington.

And so forth... How would you redrawn states?

Add NYC and Long Island to Connecticut (that, or grant statehood to Long Island and Lower New York), and make Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virigin Islands all states.

I am down for making a state of Long Island

[Boring People]

Hello NationStates,

How would you redraw the United States to make each state more representative of the overall culture of the people living there? Would you split some states apart? Put some together? What lines would you redraw?

I would split Texas in East and West, and I would then combine East Texas with Louisiana, make a "Gulf Coast State". I would maybe Gulf Coast of Alabama and Northern Florida.

I would also combine northern Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee.

And would combine Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia and DC.

And would combine Oregon and Idaho and Washington.

And so forth... How would you redrawn states?

Add NYC and Long Island to Connecticut (that, or grant statehood to Long Island and Lower New York), and make Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virigin Islands all states.

I would support giving statehood to any territory that wants it, but with two of them having only around 50,000 residents, it might be difficult to get those in particular through Congress when they'd both get two senators. It's been suggested that territories could in some cases be combined, but this doesn't necessarily make sense when, in some cases, they are different from each other, and aren't always nearby. I think Republicans would be worried about them voting Democratic, too. It might go over better if congress could be made proportional.

We could give statehood to DC, too - or at least the populated sections, anyway. It would be the State of Columbia, I suppose.

[Skeckoa]

Add NYC and Long Island to Connecticut (that, or grant statehood to Long Island and Lower New York), and make Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virigin Islands all states.

I would support giving statehood to any territory that wants it, but with two of them having only around 50,000 residents, it might be difficult to get those in particular through Congress when they'd both get two senators. It's been suggested that territories could in some cases be combined, but this doesn't necessarily make sense when, in some cases, they are different from each other, and aren't always nearby. I think Republicans would be worried about them voting Democratic, too. It might go over better if congress could be made proportional.

We could give statehood to DC, too - or at least the populated sections, anyway. It would be the State of Columbia, I suppose.

The Territory of Virgin Islands can easily be absorbed into an already heavily populated Puerto Rico.

[Kowani]

Also. Standardize the pronunciation of Arkansas/Kansas.

[Dogmeat]

Do we really need two Dakotas?

[Boring People]

The Territory of Virgin Islands can easily be absorbed into an already heavily populated Puerto Rico.

They are pretty different despite being next to each other. I’m not sure how many of the locals would support something like that. A stronger case could be made for the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam.

[Pasong Tirad]

Do we really need two Dakotas?

Do you even need one?

[Nimzonia]

Merge all those stupid square states in the middle and get rid of some of those arbitrary straight borders. Then it will almost look like a real grown up country, and not something a kid drew on graph paper.