Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Powder Miner]

There's a state named Gary.

[Scelly9]

Sangamon would be a cool named state to live in...

[FearfulJesuit]

I can't help but feel this would give the Democrats an untouchable Senate majority, maybe even a supermajority, and with it the White House. But that's just a gut feel. Atlanta, Houston, Trinity, Chinati, possibly Ogallala, Phoenix and Shiprock- all new blue or swing states carved out of old red or swing ones. Several low-population red states get swallowed up- Utah, Montana (though it's swing, really), Wyoming, Idaho, and the Dakotas have a combined 12 senators under the normal system. Under the new map, they have four. Alaska disappears into the Seattle metro area. California gets carved up into six states, most of which are now blue.

This will be slightly balanced out, of course- North Carolina's emerging swing status will be delayed as it gets carved into three and lumped in with rural parts of other states. But this would be a boon to the Democrats, all told.

[Scelly9]

Oh yes, in practice it would be an awful idea, but it is fun to think about.

[Flying Dice]

Nobody wants to live in Gary.

[Culise]

I know that the name of the Firelands has nothing to do with the Cuyahoga fires, but I can't help but feel the author was a little tongue-in-cheek with that particular choice. 

[FearfulJesuit]

I wonder if there's enough data for the presidential election out there to figure out what 2008 and 2012 would have looked like under this new map? But I can't be assed.

[Zangi]

Who came up with the new state names? I imagine "Pocono" sounds great with a Joisey accent...

Actually, those names are taken from sometimes used regional names.  There are sub-regional names too.
(At least in the case of the New England area I'm somewhat familiar with.)

[Pnx]

As other people said, it would be a massive gerrymandering issue, and frankly in 50 years these states would start to be out of balance again. The geopolitical landscape is just not stationary enough for this to be a viable solution.

[Owlbread]

I can go swimming in the River Garry.

[gimlet]

Sounds like a stupid way to do it - IF there was actual support for this cockamamie scheme then why not just change some rules instead of (repeatedly) screwing with the address of EVERY person in the USA?  ie copy the section on the House of Representatives and paste it over the Senate...

[quinnr]

Oh man, having used to have lived in Arizona, the states of Shiprock and Phoenix made me laugh a bit. All the people really do live in Phoenix.

[scriver]

Under the new map, they have four. Alaska disappears into the Seattle metro area.

If it means I will get paid to live in Seattle, I'm all for it.

[Pnx]

Sounds like a stupid way to do it - IF there was actual support for this cockamamie scheme then why not just change some rules instead of (repeatedly) screwing with the address of EVERY person in the USA?  ie copy the section on the House of Representatives and paste it over the Senate...

Well the house of representatives part is actually also horribly broken, it's just horribly broken AND weighted by population.

I'd also like to point out that the senate is supposed to be non-representative of the population's demographics on purpose. Basically it's supposed to be a compromise that lets the less populated states still have a significant say in the nation's politics.

[Eagle_eye]

And it was necessary when the states could have easily broken off and become independent nations if they hadn't had their way. Now? Not so much.