The realignment bug has escaped the sports world and made it into the political arena.

Will you make a new state? Combine states? Eliminate a state? The options are all yours.

Here's what you need to do:

1) Describe what area your state will cover, or which states you are combining. Specifying what counties would be nice, but you need not be that exact.
2) Pick a capital city
3) Choose your postal abbreviation
4) How many seats will be in your state's house of representatives and senate? Or will you go with one house like Nebraska?

State of LeMoyne

1) Formed from 6 counties in Mississippi (Pearl River, Hanthingy, Stone, Harrison, George, Jackson), 2 counties in Alabama (Mobile, Jackson), and 3 counties in Florida (Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa), all on are near the Gulf of Mexico.
2) Capital: Mobile
3) Postal Abrreviation: LM
4) House of Representatives: 37 seats; Senate: 13 seats (one per county)

I'm actually surprised this hasn't come up sooner! And Met, that's way too advanced to have easily built on that discussion!! ;D

From the last childish atttempt to redraw the lines in my dreams, these are some notes for simpler lines & more balance in state geography (and, thus, natural resources):

- Rhode Island and southern NY become part of Connecticut. (NYC now just the five burroughs or metro Manahattan.)
- New Hampshire and Vermont combined;
- Maryland adds Delaware territory but loses the westward "dangling participle" to West Virginia, which in turn loses that slim reach alongside Pennsylvania to Ohio.
- Eastern Alabama extends all the way down the Chattahoochee/Appilachicola River to the gulf
- Okalahoma, Texas and New Mexico are reformed as four states;
- The paralell mark for Arizona's northern boundary would continue to mark the new southern line for Nevada and the start for the split of California - LA and Vegas in one state, Bay Area and ecotopia in the rest;
- Washington inherits that top-reaching jag from Idaho, which could probably acquire some teritory from Montana.

While I shudder to consider the prospects of giving Alabama and Mississippi more political clout, this certainly would cleap up some issues I have re: demarcation of time zones and other trivial matters. This of course also disregards historical precedent on some fronts, but that's why the game is played, no?

USA with its slightly larger enrollment would become the flagship. There has been talk about USA starting a law school, and a pharmacy school, and with USA becoming part of a different state, that obviously would be moved forward. It would become the University of LeMoyne. (There is a LeMoyne College in Syracuse; if they get too upset at there being a U of LeMoyne, USA could become LMSU).

In spite of never having been a Land Grant school, UWF would assume the "Land Grant" function, but instead of becoming LMSU, it would become the University of Pensacola.

Also, USM's facilities in the counties coming from Mississippi would all become property of U of LeMoyne.

As part of an effort to attract more sporting events to LeMoyne, the state would encourage the former USA to sponsor Football (I-AA), Softball, Women's Gymnastics, and Women's Bowling. The Jaguars would remain in the Sun Belt and play football in the Ohio Valley or Southland. The Lady Jags would join fellow Sun Belters Arkansas State as bowling-only members of the SWAC.

- Maryland adds Delaware territory but loses the westward "dangling participle" to West Virginia, which in turn loses that slim reach alongside Pennsylvania to Ohio.

Why not give that part of West Virginia to Pennsylvania? Giving it to Pennsylvania would keep the State of Ohio entirely on one side of the Ohio River.

You're correct, sir! In my haste I'd forgotten that was an aquatic boundary as opposed to a mountainous one. Pennsylvania it is!

There are (2) things that come to mind:

#1) The Mid-Atlantic:

Send upstate NY to Canada as a gift for their years of sending talented comedians to the US.

Once you get past Orange county NY, it's an entirely different mentality from the "concrete walkers".

So my Karl Rovian plan would be to:

1) Cut NY
2) Cut NJ
3) Cut Connecticut
4) Cut PA

New Alignments:
NY: New York City and surrounding counties outside of NYC, Long Island, the top half of New Jersey, southwestern CT (the NYC suburbs).
Pennsylvania: Added = southern half of NJ and EASTERN half of PA
West Pennsylvania: new state, new attitude. Just cut PA in half and give them the western half.



#2) California
Give us our independence!
The state is large enough and has everything you need in a country. Oil, timber, travel destinations, sea ports, large cities, mountains.

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I can only speak for the Northwest.

Don't know about Ecotopia, but Cascadia (essentially Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia) could well be in play. Of course, the entity would probably end up lopping off all territory east of the Cascades in order to be viable (too much "red county" interference otherwise), and ironically, Cascadia probably wouldn't include anything north of 54' 40".

That would make Spokane an island in a sea of land that probably could be one state, and a very red state at that. Of course, Eastern Oregon is barely populated, Eastern Washington has a couple blue enclaves, Idaho could end up seeing the east lopped off into Utah, and you subsequently wonder if the new U and State universities are located in, well, Moscow and Pullman. How 'bout them apples?

The New America:

Step 1 -- Relocate the nation's capital

A good central location is needed.

Candidates:
- Kansas City (favored)
- Omaha
- Topeka
- Witchita
- Oklahoma City
- St. Louis

Washington, D.C was central around 250 years ago, back when the country didn't go in much more than 200 miles from the Atlantic coast. It's far from it today. Why not move the capital of the country? If Brazil did it with Brasilla in the 60s, so can the USA.

Step 2 -- Split California into two states

The split line will be somewhere between Fresno and Bakersfield. The north half will keep the California name and the southern half will be renamed Pacifica. The capital of California will stay Sacramento, and Pacifica will have San Bernardino as the captal (L.A.'s too crowded to move one in)

The postal abbreviation will be PC for Pacifica

Step 3 -- Merge the Dakotas

These are two of the least populated states in the union, and both are declining in people. Might as well merge them and salvage the two struggling states. They can choose a capital from the two existing ones. I'll go with Bismark just to choose one.

The postal abbreviation will be DK for Dakota

Step 4 -- Annex Northwest Florida into Alabama

Alabama needs another medium-sized city, and some more taxpayers. Pensacola is essentially a sister city to Mobile, and the whole area is more Alabama than Florida. The way I see it, Florida would barely notice the loss of an isolated region of the state, and Alabama would benefit greatly. It would get its population up in comparison to its neighbors Tennessee and Georgia.

Draw the new line at the Chattahoochee.

Step 5 -- Experiment with regional government.

This would be a system where there are 5 regional sudivisions of the country, with 10 states and a designated regional capital city (preferably a mid-sized city in a less-populated state) for each.

Back when I was living in the Bay Area, a Redding legislator proposed a Northern/Southern split of California. Thing is, he proposed lopping off north of Sacramento and San Francisco... another one of those "red county revolts," so to speak. I remember some rather hilarious discussions with San Francisco DJs about "why are you leaving us with THEM" (Southlanders, of course).

Meanwhile, in Southern Oregon and Northern California, there once was a minor rebellion desiring to form the "State of Jefferson." They went so far as to sponsor "sort-of" traffic stops. The public radio station at Southern Oregon University bills itself as "State of Jefferson Radio." Logically, the Redding legislator's proposal could all be included, as could probably everything in counties south of Eugene's Lane County. Problem is, I believe you're left with Chico State, Humboldt State, Southern Oregon, Oregon Tech, and some JCs as the bulk of the educational opportunities, provided Klamath County (OIT) doesn't end up in that East of the Cascades conglomeration.

I don't ever recall a State of Lincoln proposal regarding the Northwest, but the Jefferson issue is legend.