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A photographer/urban planner named Neil Freeman (and there’s a career combo you don’t hear too often) offers this map of the United States with the existing state borders replaced by borders that balance out population densities into 50 equal territories, with the idea being that the reapportionment would eliminate the iniquities in Electoral College votes. It would also shift House districts, though he doesn’t explicitly mention that. I think it’s kind of interesting to see where the borders change and how they do or do not match other groupings based on demographics, political divisions, cultural distinctions, or quirks of history. For example, he splits up New England and Upstate New York into three territories instead of seven states, but if the same region were carved up based on economic influence, one might expect to see the Boston territory extend more northward and southward, but contract a bit eastward, and you might have to cede some bits of New York, Vermont and Maine to Canada.
At least I won’t have to change my address labels.
You’ve been on a roll with posts these last few days. As Maine (and practically every other state) struggles with budget problems and, consequently, every unit of local government struggles with budget problems, I have found myself wondering more and more frequently whether the boundaries of many political subdivisions (states, counties, municipalities) really make sense any more: Beyond whether they make sense from an economic, political, or legal perspective, how many of them are really relevant in terms of how we identify ourselves?
Reminds me somewhat of “Nine Nations of North America,” which you recommended to me and, I think, have mentioned here before, only that was more an exercise in the demographic and cultural distinctions you allude to, as I recall. More than once lately I’ve found myself thinking, “there was a time when all this was new; why do we have to keep these boundaries if they don’t work for us any more?” Problem is, I don’t think Massachusetts wants Maine back, and I know for sure there are many people in Maine who would rather be part of New Hampshire (or Idaho) than a province of the commonwealth. Not like it’s going to happen anyway….
You’ve been on a roll with posts these last few days.
Yes, but you’ll recall I had absolutely nothing to post about for most of the month of December. Some days there’s so much interesting stuff I can’t begin to keep up, others not so much.
I for one am happy to see you posting more, Brian. And your clever is back in high gear ….