Mideast Region Senator's Thread

[Peter]

I think everybody is jumping into this far too fast, and I'll raise exactly the same objections that I did at the Convention:

Any significant change of boundaries in the Midwest/Mideast/Northeast area (i.e. as proposed here) will be problematic from a legal standpoint - What happens to the Laws and Constitutions already passed by these Regions, especially in this PA et al Region, as thats not truly either originally Mideast or Northeast. Come to think of it, the IN et al Region is half and half Midwest and Mideast - there's no natural tendency for either to have automatic bequeathment of Laws to the new Regions unlike in the Pacific, Southeast and Northeast.

Either they will have their Constitution and Laws invalidated, thus destroying good work by quite a few people (I openly admit my own vested interest given my work in the Mideast), or Laws will be placed on large bodies of voters who never consented to them or had any part in agreeing to. Either way, a degree of sacrifice is necessary by whoever is involved in the changes for a plan that I am not convinced has any perceivable gains.

I'm not really sure why people want to change the Regions in this dramatic way: The Regions were never meant to have evenly distributed population, they are meant as a geographical area that holds its own body of Laws, something that may have to be reset in order for these changes to viably go through.

Then of course, this map will actually have the effect of throwing two Governors into one Region and leave one Region Governorless. The plan that has been laid down has singularly failed to address this very important issue - If you must present such a dramatic change, you must also present the plan for the transition with it, otherwise we'll be up the creek without a paddle if it goes into effect without proper consideration.

This is made even worse by the fact that the Mideast and Midwest work on different electoral timetables - Longer term, you could end up with people being Governor of a handful of States during a drawnout handover, and even potential legal problems with some States lacking a Governor during a redistricting.

Presently the plan is ill-conceived simply because it doesn't have its details worked out. Anybody who votes for it in its present form would be reckless and irresponsible because really, you don't know what you would be voting for.

[Peter]

There's no natural tendency in some Regions to particular laws because of the exact even split - Also, last count gave the Southeast 40 odd laws and the Mideast will be getting on for 20 by the time it comes around. Revoting on all this is a logistical nightmare and ultimately you can guarantee that people will just vote without reading the Laws they are passing - And that is a disaster. I remain convinced that automatic law inheritance is the best way to go, unfortunately if would force some people to accept Laws they would never have voted for.

Also, its not just a case of choosing the one Constitution that a particular Region wants - a good number of Constitutions need to be torn up and completely rewritten because they've amended into total incomprehensibility. You will essentially force the entire nation into constitutional convention at the Regional level because the reset button gets pressed, or you force 75+ pieces of legislation to revote. Either way, thats a lot of work for us to undergo after just finishing a complete reconsideration of the federal Constitution.