Splitting states

[Scott5114]

While we are at it, To make borders not lines, Virginia should own northern N.C., owning WV, Maryland, Delaware, D.C., and southern PA. Erie should exist with all of western and central Pennsylvania besides Pittsburgh.

West Virginia is specifically a thing because they thought Virginia sucked and wanted out.

[Angelo71]

I know that, but if I can make borders I'd have Virginia be reunited so Virginia could be number 1.

[texaskdog]

Let's combine some while were at it.  Do we need two Dakotas?
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/58809/us-map-redrawn-50-states-equal-population

Too bad the link to the larger version of the map is broken.  I would be nice to be able to read which cities are in which new states.

There were two Dakotas only so Republicans would be appointing 4 senators instead of 2, and 6 electoral college votes instead of 3.

Democrats should not shy away from getting DC represented the same as a state and admitting Puerto Rico.  Politics is a rough game and if you play like gentlemen you will lose.

With the packing the court talk I'm sure a lot more blue states will be created.

I always laugh when a party complains about gerrymandering when they both do it.  All boundries should be drawn up by an independent group. 

[GaryV]

so Virginia could be number 1.

Number 1 in what?

[NWI_Irish96]

Let's combine some while were at it.  Do we need two Dakotas?
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/58809/us-map-redrawn-50-states-equal-population

Too bad the link to the larger version of the map is broken.  I would be nice to be able to read which cities are in which new states.

There were two Dakotas only so Republicans would be appointing 4 senators instead of 2, and 6 electoral college votes instead of 3.

Democrats should not shy away from getting DC represented the same as a state and admitting Puerto Rico.  Politics is a rough game and if you play like gentlemen you will lose.

At the time the legislation was passed that enabled the Dakotas (and a few others) to become states, the Senate was Republican but the House and Presidency were Democratic. The Dakota Territory split into two over a dispute over the location of the capital--nothing to do with partisan politics.

[NWI_Irish96]

While we are at it, To make borders not lines, Virginia should own northern N.C., owning WV, Maryland, Delaware, D.C., and southern PA. Erie should exist with all of western and central Pennsylvania besides Pittsburgh.

West Virginia is specifically a thing because they thought Virginia sucked and wanted out.

To be more precise, West Virginia is a thing because the northwestern counties of Virginia were pro-union and anti-slavery (or at least not overly pro-slavery) so they seceded from the Confederacy and rejoined the Union as a separate state.

[texaskdog]

Let's combine some while were at it.  Do we need two Dakotas?
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/58809/us-map-redrawn-50-states-equal-population

Too bad the link to the larger version of the map is broken.  I would be nice to be able to read which cities are in which new states.

There were two Dakotas only so Republicans would be appointing 4 senators instead of 2, and 6 electoral college votes instead of 3.

Democrats should not shy away from getting DC represented the same as a state and admitting Puerto Rico.  Politics is a rough game and if you play like gentlemen you will lose.

At the time the legislation was passed that enabled the Dakotas (and a few others) to become states, the Senate was Republican but the House and Presidency were Democratic. The Dakota Territory split into two over a dispute over the location of the capital--nothing to do with partisan politics.

Ironically since the SD capital is not even on the Interstate system.  Glad it was wanted by someone.

[texaskdog]

A growing population and political concerns (admitting two states meant having four new senators for the Republican Party) caused Dakota Territory to be divided in half and President Benjamin Harrison signed proclamations formally admitting South Dakota and North Dakota to the union on November 2, 1889.[72][73] Harrison had the papers shuffled to obscure which one was signed first and the order went unrecorded.[73][74]

[Angelo71]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

[NWI_Irish96]

A growing population and political concerns (admitting two states meant having four new senators for the Republican Party) caused Dakota Territory to be divided in half and President Benjamin Harrison signed proclamations formally admitting South Dakota and North Dakota to the union on November 2, 1889.[72][73] Harrison had the papers shuffled to obscure which one was signed first and the order went unrecorded.[73][74]

The enabling act that split the Dakota territory into two was passed while there was a Democratic House and President. The residents wanted it, and Congress let the people decide things for themselves rather than make a purely political decision.

[hotdogPi]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

Mexico's federal district was in a similar situation but became a state in all but name just a few years ago.

[Angelo71]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

Mexico's federal district was in a similar situation but became a state just a few years ago.

You don't see the GOP making West Virginia into 400000 states? Or do you seeing them making NOVA apart of MD? Do you see them trying to make New York City a federal district with no electoral votes? Do you see California and the west coast being sold to Mexico and Canada? Do you see Hawaii being given independence? Do you see them trying to expell all democratic voters? No, you don't.

[NWI_Irish96]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

Mexico's federal district was in a similar situation but became a state in all but name just a few years ago.

Does Mexico allocate legislators based on states? If not, then it really isn't a comparable action.

[NWI_Irish96]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

The obvious compromise here is for the GOP to agree to grant statehood for Puerto Rico (which is going to happen at some point anyway) in return for a Dem agreement to turn the populated portions of DC back to Maryland and abandoning statehood.

[SkyPesos]

I know that, but if I can make borders I'd have Virginia be reunited so Virginia could be number 1.

Take Ohio while you're at it so you can have 6/10 of the I-x7 interstates in Virginia  Well actually 8/10 since WV has I-79 too and I-73 is getting a VA extension.

[Angelo71]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

The obvious compromise here is for the GOP to agree to grant statehood for Puerto Rico (which is going to happen at some point anyway) in return for a Dem agreement to turn the populated portions of DC back to Maryland and abandoning statehood.

I personally don't like the fact that US owns a bunch of land off of the contiguous U.S., I think Alaska should be given to Canada, Hawaii independence, Puerto Rico independence, even though that is for an alternate history timeline, not a road forums, and it would simply never happen. I also think the GOP would want more because giving Maryland more Democrat land doesn't really change anything and I don't understand your point.

[NWI_Irish96]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

The obvious compromise here is for the GOP to agree to grant statehood for Puerto Rico (which is going to happen at some point anyway) in return for a Dem agreement to turn the populated portions of DC back to Maryland and abandoning statehood.

I personally don't like the fact that US owns a bunch of land off of the contiguous U.S., I think Alaska should be given to Canada, Hawaii independence, Puerto Rico independence, even though that is for an alternate history timeline, not a road forums, and it would simply never happen. I also think the GOP would want more because giving Maryland more Democrat land doesn't really change anything and I don't understand your point.

Alaska and Hawaii are internationally strategic so there's no way the US would ever give them up. The GOP should agree to the compromise because it adds 2 Dem senators instead of 4.

[kkt]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

The obvious compromise here is for the GOP to agree to grant statehood for Puerto Rico (which is going to happen at some point anyway) in return for a Dem agreement to turn the populated portions of DC back to Maryland and abandoning statehood.

Only problem is the population of DC doesn't want to be part of Maryland, and Maryland's population and power base is Baltimore and they don't want that to change.

[kkt]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

The obvious compromise here is for the GOP to agree to grant statehood for Puerto Rico (which is going to happen at some point anyway) in return for a Dem agreement to turn the populated portions of DC back to Maryland and abandoning statehood.

I personally don't like the fact that US owns a bunch of land off of the contiguous U.S., I think Alaska should be given to Canada, Hawaii independence, Puerto Rico independence, even though that is for an alternate history timeline, not a road forums, and it would simply never happen. I also think the GOP would want more because giving Maryland more Democrat land doesn't really change anything and I don't understand your point.

Alaska never belonged to Canada.  Before it became a U.S. territory, it belonged to Russia. 

This is a democracy.  Maybe we should consider what the people there want.  I don't think you'd find more than a small minority of people in Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico that want to be independent of the U.S.

[Roadgeekteen]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

The obvious compromise here is for the GOP to agree to grant statehood for Puerto Rico (which is going to happen at some point anyway) in return for a Dem agreement to turn the populated portions of DC back to Maryland and abandoning statehood.

I personally don't like the fact that US owns a bunch of land off of the contiguous U.S., I think Alaska should be given to Canada, Hawaii independence, Puerto Rico independence, even though that is for an alternate history timeline, not a road forums, and it would simply never happen. I also think the GOP would want more because giving Maryland more Democrat land doesn't really change anything and I don't understand your point.

Alaska never belonged to Canada.  Before it became a U.S. territory, it belonged to Russia. 

This is a democracy.  Maybe we should consider what the people there want.  I don't think you'd find more than a small minority of people in Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico that want to be independent of the U.S.

Puerto Rico probably has the highest percentage, but still not that high.

[Angelo71]

D.C. was meant to be a federal district, not a state. If people in D.C. want representation, I think that either Federal Buildings should be D.C., or the new borders of D.C. should be based upon the Anacostia River, Rock Creek and Massachusetts Avenue.

The obvious compromise here is for the GOP to agree to grant statehood for Puerto Rico (which is going to happen at some point anyway) in return for a Dem agreement to turn the populated portions of DC back to Maryland and abandoning statehood.

I personally don't like the fact that US owns a bunch of land off of the contiguous U.S., I think Alaska should be given to Canada, Hawaii independence, Puerto Rico independence, even though that is for an alternate history timeline, not a road forums, and it would simply never happen. I also think the GOP would want more because giving Maryland more Democrat land doesn't really change anything and I don't understand your point.

Alaska never belonged to Canada.  Before it became a U.S. territory, it belonged to Russia. 

This is a democracy.  Maybe we should consider what the people there want.  I don't think you'd find more than a small minority of people in Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico that want to be independent of the U.S.

I never said that. I said if I could change anything, with only borders and formalities in mind I'd do it. I don't think It should ever happen.

[hbelkins]

This is a democracy.

No, it isn't. It's a representative republic.

[Scott5114]

Gratuitous political posts removed.

[Roadgeekteen]

Gratuitous political posts removed.

Thank you. Unfortunatly, this topic does have a high potential to get political.

[hbelkins]

I'm one of those who's against DC statehood, and am in the camp of those who think that if the residents of that city want to be in a state, they should go back to Maryland the same way Arlington did to Virginia.

But I saw it expressed upthread that doing so would set up a power struggle with Baltimore for control of the state.

That's nothing new. Albany vs. NYC. Chicago vs. Springfield. Charlotte vs. Raleigh (and the Triad vs. the Triangle). Memphis vs. Nashville. Richmond vs. Hampton Roads vs. NoVa.