Steerpike

I suspect that if you asked the residents of the more populous states (New York, CA, Texas, etc) you might find that they'd prefer to have more say in political matters. A well-orchestrated education campaign targeting these larger states could get them to act in unison to make changes to their mutual benefit. But it would be fought tooth-and-nail by the smaller states so probably would never happen.

Octang Frye

It's almost like you don't get what the Union is meant to be.

dc koop

Has anyone in Florida actually tasted Camambert? I thought beef jerky was the delicacy of choice in Trump Land.

dc koop

That's a post worth saluting. Says it all

dc koop

Er yes, true. It just seems so bloody big because it takes so long to reach Oregon from San Diego. Word to the wise contemplating a visit to La Belle France. Watch yer wallets and purses at all times

dc koop

Not to mention the taxpayers.

Giantaxe

Because?

SultanOfSwing

I was also wrong, as pointed out, it's 4% the size of Europe, but still much less than half. It's only 4% the size of the US as well, it's just big in comparison to other states, most of which once you get east of the Mississippi are pretty small, relatively speaking.

Anyway, thanks for the travel advice, I guess ...

scrubbedexpat091

I am in no hurry to drive back to So. California...Long arse drive, and when taking the I-5 not very scenic for the majority of the drive, a few exceptions, but pretty underwhelming drive scenery wise.

Steerpike

I 'get' what the original intent was. That doesn't mean the current situation reflects what they expected or intended. I suspect they did not anticipate we would have some states with 500,000 inhabitants and some states with 30,000,000 inhabitants. Splitting the bigger states, and/or combining the smaller ones, is not a terribly crazy idea.

carcajou

There is no appetite among the American population to reorganise the states and throw the country into chaos. It's usually never suggested outside the context of Republican or Democratic partisans thinking that doing so will somehow rig the system their way. Which people see right through.

Outside of that, suggesting a state reorganisation shows a lack of understanding of the American system. Aside from the obvious that no single authority can order so - the US is not a Westminster system where a Prime Minister can just snap his fingers, whip his party into line and pass a bill - there are decades and in some cases centuries of financial investment etc that has been controlled by the states. What happens to the school building and the road that was paved for by State X's Dollars that you now want to give to State Y? Who pays the reparations? You are out of your mind if you think State X will just write off its investment because some academics somewhere think the states need to be updated. The only people who will benefit from this are the lawyers.

Wendover, on the Utah/Nevada border, is a good case study of that. Wendover on the Nevada side is prosperous thanks to gambling revenues. Wendover on the Utah side is not. Utah has offered to just give its part of Wendover to Nevada, who has refused. Of course Utah would be happy to be rid of it - tax drain. Nevada doesn't want it for the same reason.

Gordon Barlow

Octang Frye is right. The populations of the original nation-states (and nation-states are exactly what they were) were also pretty uneven. Think of the nation-states that comprise the European Union: they're pretty uneven in their respective populations - and yet they went ahead with the idea of a political union. But imagine if one day France and Germany (for instance) decide to chop themselves up into population-units the size of Luxembourg's. Yikes. Chaos. Brexit-crisis times a million!

Giantaxe

Average state population is around 6.5. million. Even if California were divided in three, each state would have over twice that many inhabitants and be amongst the largest. So your example is a little bogus, Mr Putin's man.

dc koop

There's a very interesting article in the Business Section of the Los Angeles times June 24th edition written by Michael Hiltzik which points out some of the major issues and ramifications of Draper's plan, not least of which is that a new State of Northern California would end up being the 2nd richest State in the Union while the new State of Southern California dropping to around 30th.
It's clear that Draper's plan is just an investment by a Silicon Valley fat cat to keep more of his money in the long run while telling the rest of California to go to hell. It's an insidious idea with many unknown consequences. It wont pass of course but after his X6 California followed now by his X3 California he'll no doubt be back in a few years with his X2 plan.

The idea that California is a State too difficult to govern is a stupid one. The population is large and it's diverse but there are countries with twice the population in central Europe and a mixture of ethnicities that function pretty well.

jeepster

The Civil War that defined America was the English Civil War. You should read about it, it will give you an understanding of where you are and where you're from.

https://www.amazon.com/Rebellion-History-England-Glorious-Revolution/dp/1250070244