If you could redraw the geographical State borders in the United States, what would they look like?

Serious answer:

I feel like talking about drawing state boundaries based on different ethnic or social groups is a recipe for disaster. Ever heard of the Balkans?

Fun answer:

Obviously NorCal and SoCal should be separate states. The central valley could also get its own state. If you want to draw even more lines, California could look like this:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UTB69TQzidw/SwLw1sZ3CKI/AAAAAAAAAGA/elclVlo3FOQ/s1600/centralvalley.jpg

New York could be divided according to distance from NYC (can you guess where I'm from?), sort of like this map:

http://theelectoralmap.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/04-16-new-york-regions.jpg

Except most of Long Island should be orange, not red.

I'd love to see certain major cities and their surrounding areas made into their own states, NYC in particular.

Washington, Oregon and Northern California would be one state.

Virginia would get back all of its original territory and extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific between the 34th and 41st parallel. Plus Bermuda!

I would like to see California just pushed into the ocean. Mexico might as well take Arizona, New Mexico, and the bottom half of Texas. North and South Dakota should become one state. The upper peninsula of Michigan should go to Wisconsin. Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont should be combined. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts should also be combined.

I would also combine Kentucky and West Virginia. I am sure a contest to name that state would yield some pretty funny names. Other than those small changes, I am very happy with the rest. That would give us a more manageable 41 states. Could you imagine how much more money the flag companies would make if everybody had to replace their flags? Once they realized that, we would probably change the amount of states we have more often than every 50 years.

East half of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico should be donated to their eastern counterparts. The top of Idaho should go to Montana or Wyoming with the eastern portions of Washington and Oregon to join the Boise/Pocatello dump. NorCal plus the western halves of OR and WA is good. Utah is good as is. Nevada should be separate from Las Vegas and just be given to California which can't get any worse than it already is.

same, except New Jersey would be excluded from the states

The Florida panhandle should be part of Alabama. I still don't understand why it isn't.

There should be no boundaries! We will be called the United State of America.

oh please wrote:

There should be no boundaries! We will be called the United State of America.

A little whiteout lets us drop the s in States and erase the borders on maps and documents. Cheap inexpensive fix no need to redraw any lines. A blue magic marker fixes the flag so no need to make more flags the white in the stars is just a repeat of the stripes anyway.

And with only one state Sarah Palin would be President you betcha wink wink.

If Northern Virginia became a state, it would probably be the wealthiest in the country

Old Dominion wrote:

Virginia would get back all of its original territory and extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific between the 34th and 41st parallel. Plus Bermuda!

Yes, except maybe the WV part. We don't want that back.

yes wrote:

same, except New Jersey would be excluded from the states

Hey.

Because it would look like a prick, something I am certain you have seen from many angles.

Wow There wrote:

The Florida panhandle should be part of Alabama. I still don't understand why it isn't.

Play this Redistricting game. Enjoy!

http://www.redistrictinggame.org/index.php?pg=game

That was uncalled for, though it is a good indication of your obsessions

yes wrote:

same, except New Jersey would be excluded from the states

They should definitely draw a bigass line running northeast from Trenton to Sandy Hook. The rednecks down south can have LBI and Haddonfield (and the Governor) and leave the rest of us in peace.

Oh, and they should build a bigass fence along that line on a sunny Saturday in July, so all the Jersey Shore clowns get stuck on the south side.

There should be 14-15 states based on economy/landscape and city centers.

1. New England: Capital Boston.

2. Megalopolis: Capital NYC, Long Island, North to Catskills, NJ, Philly, MD, DC, south to Richmond

3. Coalville: Capital Cleveland. Northern NY, Western PA, WV, western VA, western nc, ohio, eastern MI

4. The SOUTH: Capital Atlanta. East north carolina, south carolina, Georgia, northern FL to Tallahassee, Alabama, MS, TN, KY, southern Indiana

5. Midwest: Capital Chicago. Illinois, northern indiana, western Michigan, Missouri east of Columbia

6. Heartland: Capital Minneapolis. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska

7. Gateway to West: Capital Denver. Western Missouri, North Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana

8. Mormonville: Capital Salt Lake City. Utah, Northern NV, Idaho, eastern oregon and washington to Cascade mountains.

9. Cascadia: Capital Seattle. West of Cascade mountains in WA, OR, CA till Redding.

10. NoCal: Capital San Francisco.

11. SoCal: Capital Los Angeles

12 Desert: Capital Phoenix. Arizona, NM, Las Vegas, West TX

13 Oil Land: Capital Dallas. East TX, Oklahoma, south kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana

14. Beachland: Capital Miami. Florida north to Jacksonville.

Here's my redrawn America:

http://www.aww-kittah-aww.com/up/public/195893/america.jpg