The State of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware

[TeePee4Prez]

Wouldn't it be nice if this were a state?  Here are my thoughts:

1.  Philly wouldn't have to pay Harrisburg tax revenue      
     and distribute the money to the sticks.
2.  Ed Rendell would be our governor for life!
3.  Joe Hoeffel and Joe Biden our are senators  
4.  Philly wouldn't be sh!t on by Harrisburg
     a. Better public schools
     b. Better Highways
     c. Better mass transit
5.  Do I ever look up to Boston.  It is a much nicer city in  
     infrastructure and it seems that the city and suburbs
     are in harmony!
6.  We boot our "cancer" reps like Weldon, Saxton, and
     LoBiondo.

[opebo]

I'd be all for this - two Dem senators where previously there were four.  And the remainder of PA would be reliably GOP.  But what to do with Northern New Jersey?  I say attach it to Southern NY state - basically NYC.  This leaves upstate NY as a new state with some GOP potential.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Southern PA was PA in the beginning... do you know your own history or not?

[muon2]

There are probably many cases where the historical state lines now group together different communities of interest. This is the flip side of the gerrymandering discussion that was  in another thread. Gerrymandering often forces similar communities to create a reliable political district. The question is whether one wants competitive units of government or similar community of interest.

[Gustaf]

One should either let the states be as they are or have a damn good argument for changing them. Otherwise, it becomes a sort of 'why not change this and that as well' and gerrymandering on state level is a pretty scary thought...

[© tweed]

I think Delaware used to be part of Pennsylvania colony.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Why are people always talking about breaking up my state!?  Hey, we got the nation's highest AP scores....and nice beaches.....and.....cranberries!  So.....hah!

JERSEY 4 EVA!

[bullmoose88]

Yes. Delaware (its 3 counties) used to be part of Pennsylvania, until someone--can't remember who--wanted a pro-slavery colony.

I wouldn't say that Biden and Hoffel would win...you have people like Greenwood and Specter who could be the senate delegation.

Now how many electoral votes would we have? >P

[12th Doctor]

Nothing would make me happier than being able to finally burn that blood sucking leech off our state.  I kinda feel bad for the people of Southern Ney Jersey though.  I vacation there you know.

[12th Doctor]

Yes. Delaware (its 3 counties) used to be part of Pennsylvania, until someone--can't remember who--wanted a pro-slavery colony.

I wouldn't say that Biden and Hoffel would win...you have people like Greenwood and Specter who could be the senate delegation.

Now how many electoral votes would we have? >P

About 12 EV's

[KEmperor]

If anything Delaware should be absorbed into Maryland.  It makes a lot more sense just looking at the map, and Maryland is the one that could use more territory.

[12th Doctor]

If anything Delaware should be absorbed into Maryland.  It makes a lot more sense just looking at the map, and Maryland is the one that could use more territory.

Makes sense.

[KEmperor]

Yes, and don't get me started on how all of New England should just be one state called Greater Massachusetts...

[12th Doctor]

Personaly, I wouldn't have a problem with the idea of sticking Rhode Island onto Mass. and Delaware onto Maryland.  If we did that and then split California and admitted Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands as states, then we would be back up to 50.

[Huckleberry Finn]

Wasn't there a referendum about Northern California state status few years ago?

[elcorazon]

Why isn't DC a state?

[Nation]

Because the Republicans know it'd just be a Democratic Rep and 2 Democratic Senators.

They don't need senators, but they seriousley need a vote in congress. They even have more people than Wyoming and Vermont, I think.  Ever see the license plates? Taxation without representation.


as for this southeast pennsylvania, jersey state ---

New Delavania
Jennaware
Dennsey

[KEmperor]

That's a simplistic answer.  Another one would be that it would be unconstituional.  The Constitution specifically provides for a federal district that will serve as the capital.  The reasoning as I see it is that you don't want any one state to have that much importance.

[muon2]

DC could return to MD. The precedent is Arlington and Alexandria, VA which were originally in the Federal District. Congress returned those areas to VA after a referendum in 1870. The part of the original District north of the Potomac could be returned to MD and those citizens would be entitled to the same Congressional representation as anyone else, including one-time district residents south of the Potomac.

[Fritz]

This thread has raised some interesting points that have nothing to do with the topic raised by the person who started it.  But anyways....

DC should not be a state, but they should have congressional representation.  I read a proposed amendment- don't know whatever happened to it- that said for purposes of federal elections only, DC would be considered part of Maryland.  Maryland would get to divide DC up in its own congressional districts (the state would get one more Rep, probably at the expense of North Carolina), and DC residents would vote for Maryland senators, and for Maryland electors in Presidential races.  The Republicans should love this, because it repeals the 3 EV for DC.  It sounds like a good idea all the way around, does anyone know whatever happened to this proposal?

Regarding other state re-arrangements, I do think California should be split, the state is just getting too damn big.

Why were North and South Dakota split, anyways?  Dakota should be one state.

Another idea I had for redrawing state lines was to move Staten Island into New Jersey...looking on a map, it seems to make geographic sense...not sure how Staten Islanders feel about this, though.

[KEmperor]

Another idea I had for redrawing state lines was to move Staten Island into New Jersey...looking on a map, it seems to make geographic sense...not sure how Staten Islanders feel about this, though.

As far as I know, there are many Staten Islanders that want to become part of New Jersey, but I don't think it would happen.  I don't know if this is just a vocal minority though, because the people who are happy being part of NY aren't going to be complaining, obviously.

[bullmoose88]

It be more than 12 electoral votes I think...

and blood sucking leech?

the 5 richest counties in the state are in the southeast...if anything our money's going west.

[Nation]

What you guys don't take into consideration, is that


1) MD doesn't WANT DC
2) We have major budget problems -- DC would just make it worse


I don't have a solution for DC's problem, unfortunatley.

Federal-election wise, it would just put Maryland out of Republicans reach permanently -- it's tough now, but not impossible. I'm opinionless on whether to make DC vote for MD senators and whatnot, but there's bound to be editorials on it somewhere on the Internet.

[muon2]

This thread has raised some interesting points that have nothing to do with the topic raised by the person who started it.  But anyways....

DC should not be a state, but they should have congressional representation.  I read a proposed amendment- don't know whatever happened to it- that said for purposes of federal elections only, DC would be considered part of Maryland.  Maryland would get to divide DC up in its own congressional districts (the state would get one more Rep, probably at the expense of North Carolina), and DC residents would vote for Maryland senators, and for Maryland electors in Presidential races.  The Republicans should love this, because it repeals the 3 EV for DC.  It sounds like a good idea all the way around, does anyone know whatever happened to this proposal?

Regarding other state re-arrangements, I do think California should be split, the state is just getting too damn big.

Why were North and South Dakota split, anyways?  Dakota should be one state.

Another idea I had for redrawing state lines was to move Staten Island into New Jersey...looking on a map, it seems to make geographic sense...not sure how Staten Islanders feel about this, though.

Dakota Territory was split by Congress in 1889 after the Republicans made statehood an issue in the 1888 election.