When Mehdi Hasan sat down with Jon Stewart last month, the roles were reversed. This time, the Emmy-winning host of The Daily Show was the one asking the questions — about corporate media, Gaza, Do…
I feel like this map must be some sort of trolling for people that have any understanding of the United States. I could write a doctoral thesis for how badly this would disenfranchise people, screw over others economically, and involves taking over territory that isn’t even fully American.
Let’s just talk about your “territories” region. It is somehow supposed to compete on the world stage when it has less population than New York? Far less accessible resources? Peoples that may not even want to be part of the US given a choice?
The Western area is taking over tons of Native American land and have no water.
The middle area has the same population problems (except Texas) and the territories. Plus, they largely rely on Federal tax dollars and that would dry up.
The Eastern section would be dominated by the North East and people in the South would rather die than be lumped in with them.
I could go on?
All of this for what? Some sort of global representation? Each state already represents itself globally. For smaller regions of representation? Well, these are still huge (and uneven) regions that ignore population.
The major issue is that land doesn’t vote. Take away the electoral college and first pass the post voting and, suddenly, America works much better.
The big strength of the Outer Region, is politics and location - by occupying key spots far away from the American mainland, that inherently means that they are key points where trade, military basing, and other such things are concerned. Also, many territories don’t have state rights - which should be corrected by making them into proper states, or releasing them from America’s grasp. On top of that, the Outer Regions could get a special perk - any territorial acquisitions the US makes, by default goes to the Outer Region. If Cuba willingly joined the USA, that is where they would go. If Mexico was somehow conquered, that too becomes part of the Outer Region. This makes the mainland regions less willing to take the nation to war, unless it is important. If the rewards of conquest went to the smallest brother, the bigger brothers are less inclined to shake down nations.
Anyhow, I think the problem of territory and population count would start resolving itself as decades pass. Each region is meant to compete with each other, and by extension, that means effectively using their lands to house people, produce resources, and so forth. Thing is, people can still freely migrate anywhere within the states, so a badly lead region will have them losing population to other regions and the states therein.
Alongside my assumption of a reworked Constitution, is that economics itself will receive a dedicated section where UBI is guaranteed. This would allow people to have greater political and economic agency, since they are not tied down to land by work nor means. If they got free basic shelter, food, healthcare, and transport, citizens can just pick up stakes to find greener pastures. Without being able to hold people hostage through requiring work, each region needs to have good living conditions to attract people into their respective lands. This is not dissimilar to the times of the Black Death, where laborers had the freedom to choose the circumstances of work, because the lords had to jockey to get the skills of a limited supply of workers.
I feel like this map must be some sort of trolling for people that have any understanding of the United States. I could write a doctoral thesis for how badly this would disenfranchise people, screw over others economically, and involves taking over territory that isn’t even fully American.
Let’s just talk about your “territories” region. It is somehow supposed to compete on the world stage when it has less population than New York? Far less accessible resources? Peoples that may not even want to be part of the US given a choice?
The Western area is taking over tons of Native American land and have no water.
The middle area has the same population problems (except Texas) and the territories. Plus, they largely rely on Federal tax dollars and that would dry up.
The Eastern section would be dominated by the North East and people in the South would rather die than be lumped in with them.
I could go on?
All of this for what? Some sort of global representation? Each state already represents itself globally. For smaller regions of representation? Well, these are still huge (and uneven) regions that ignore population.
The major issue is that land doesn’t vote. Take away the electoral college and first pass the post voting and, suddenly, America works much better.
The big strength of the Outer Region, is politics and location - by occupying key spots far away from the American mainland, that inherently means that they are key points where trade, military basing, and other such things are concerned. Also, many territories don’t have state rights - which should be corrected by making them into proper states, or releasing them from America’s grasp. On top of that, the Outer Regions could get a special perk - any territorial acquisitions the US makes, by default goes to the Outer Region. If Cuba willingly joined the USA, that is where they would go. If Mexico was somehow conquered, that too becomes part of the Outer Region. This makes the mainland regions less willing to take the nation to war, unless it is important. If the rewards of conquest went to the smallest brother, the bigger brothers are less inclined to shake down nations.
Anyhow, I think the problem of territory and population count would start resolving itself as decades pass. Each region is meant to compete with each other, and by extension, that means effectively using their lands to house people, produce resources, and so forth. Thing is, people can still freely migrate anywhere within the states, so a badly lead region will have them losing population to other regions and the states therein.
Alongside my assumption of a reworked Constitution, is that economics itself will receive a dedicated section where UBI is guaranteed. This would allow people to have greater political and economic agency, since they are not tied down to land by work nor means. If they got free basic shelter, food, healthcare, and transport, citizens can just pick up stakes to find greener pastures. Without being able to hold people hostage through requiring work, each region needs to have good living conditions to attract people into their respective lands. This is not dissimilar to the times of the Black Death, where laborers had the freedom to choose the circumstances of work, because the lords had to jockey to get the skills of a limited supply of workers.