From the Baltimore Sun:
A modest proposal: Make D.C. a state, and merge Wyoming with South Dakota | COMMENTARYhttps://t.co/uqAMKCrmp6
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) February 3, 2021
As a former resident of Western South Dakota I can tell you that South Dakota and Wyoming are very different states, with different economies and different cultures. Even the geography of the states are very different.
Hell, South Dakota itself is really two states joined together. Western South Dakota is mining and ranching, Eastern South Dakota is farming. Very differ cultures and that causes problems.
But this is how these assholes from the coasts think of “those big rectangular states.” As interchangeable.
They say this because they want power. To remove our Senators and increase the number of their Senators.
So here is my proposal.
Create a minimum and maximum size requirement for a state based on area. Coense Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania into one state, then have everyone there go fuck themselves.
Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts can go next.
Sound fair, fuckers?
Update, sorry I included New Hampshire with those Massholes. Sig Arms should not be put in with them.
I forgot about Rhode Island, but that can be forgiven, since even the Senator from Rhode Island doesn’t like his job since he spoke put against each state having two Senators.
Works for me.
As a NH resident, I object to that part of your proposal. If you make it CT, MA, VT, and RI (you forgot that micro-state), fine, they are all leftist swamps. But NH is very different. Just compare NH’s constitutional carry and no licenses for gun ownership with MA’s “almost anything is prohibited and what is left is ‘may issue'”.
Apart from that, the original proposal is bizarre. One objection to DC being a state is that it gives more seats to the D’s. Merging two R states will make that worse, not better.
There’s also another problem with making DC a state: it requires a Constitutional Amendment.
Nuke DC from orbit.
It wouldn’t change the voter registration.
You must, if only to be certain!
If the residents of DC don’t like that the district isn’t a state, they can move to a real state.
There’s been a proposal for quite a while now to merge DC back into Maryland, the way Alexandria was returned to Virginia. That would make perfect sense. The trouble is that this, too, would require a Constitutional amendment.
I don’t think it requires a Constitutional Amendment if DC remains a federal district. The plan I liked was put DC back into Maryland, except for the National Mall including the White House and Lafayette Square. The only residents are the First and Second families. The rest of the residential and business area of the city goes back to Maryland.
If you keep the National Mall, that avoids the problem of the DC clause in Article 1 Section 8. But the 23rd Amendment would still be problematic. In the scenario you describe, those few residents would get to appoint 3 Electors. Which, in practice, amounts to saying that the current party in the White House gets a 3 vote handicap in their favor in the Presidential election. Not good at all.
To be honest, I’m not opposed to merging the tiny East Coast micro-states into one or two larger ones — with two Senators each.
Texas could become two or three states — with two Senators each.
While we’re at it, Alaska is far too big. It should be split up into four or six individual states — with two Senators each. (This would also significantly increase Alaska’s House representation, as they have one House rep now and each state is guaranteed at least one.)
And none of this requires a Constitutional Amendment, although it does require agreement among all the states involved, which is almost an equally tall hurdle.
CT watching new England get merged into one state.
“Unfunded liabilities for everyone!”
“You get a billion of debt! You get a billion of debt!”