For those of you who believe that the geographic boundaries of the 50 states are the arbitrary and illogical constructs of history, consider the map above, drawn by Artist Neil Freeman. Freeman’s boundaries have the virtue of creating states with near-equal populations of 6.2 million each. His goal was to solve address the injustice of states varying in size and population from California to Rhode Island having an equal number of United States senators, a violation of the one-man-one-vote principle.
Of course, the boundaries would have to be redrawn periodically to reflect shifting populations, inevitably giving rise to gerrymandered states, and also vitiating the concept of the co-sovereignty of state and federal governments upon which the entire U.S. Constitution is built.
Personally, I’m not wild about the idea of Richmond being thrown into “Tidewater,” which extends almost all the way down to Charleston, including some of the poorest regions of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. On the other hand, co-blogger Don Rippert would see the consummation of his dream: a state essentially consisting of the Washington metropolitan region.
Hat tip: Rebecca Tippett on the StatsChat blog.
— JAB