Maybe California has it right
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By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist
When it comes to California splitting into three states, the problem may be they just did not go far enough. Nevertheless, we can build on this and run with it.
It makes a lot of sense to split the big cities off from the rest of the state to which they currently are attached and make them separate city-states. After all, Washington, D.C. has always existed in this fashion, no reason we can’t roll it out nationwide.
An excellent example is Chicago. Take Chicago and Rockford in Illinois and in Wisconsin, Milwaukee and Madison, and roll this whole region into a state of its own. It has nothing in common with downstate Illinois or upstate Wisconsin.
Think of it this way: Let the big MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) wallow in their own problems. People in Cairo, Ill. – 373 miles from Chicago – have nothing in common with Chicago.
Another great candidate is New York City/Long Island. Cut them off from the rest of the state. Do you know the revenue generated by Niagara Falls is not used to support the city of Niagara Falls? It goes to New York City.
Here in Georgia, chop off the northwest corner, including greater Atlanta, from the downstate. Atlanta has as much in common with Waycross as Baghdad does with Baltimore (well, maybe that is a bad example).
In Ohio, it might get a little trickier. I would suggest putting the Cincinnati/Dayton/Springfield area in with Columbus and Cleveland, using I-71 as something of a gerrymandering link to tie them all together. They certainly have more in common with each other than they do rural Ohio.
As for the balance of the state, I would make northwest Ohio its own state and southeast Ohio its own state. These two largely rural areas have nothing in common with each other or the cities. I doubt there is even a buckeye tree in northwestern Ohio.
The cities have become so much different than the rural areas as time has gone by. The cities are artificial places attractive to people that like such places. They have their own unique set of problems accompanied by their own high costs. Let them deal with this on their own.
The left likes to say the Constitution is old-fashioned and out of date. In this specific area, I may agree with them.
The Constitution was written before the Industrial Revolution took off. The Industrial Revolution is largely responsible for agglomerating people in the crowded spaces we call cities. The exceptions in those days were the ports, such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia and so on.
Proponents of the California split point out that what is now California will end up with six senators and likely four of those will be Democrat seats. That’s OK. In these other parts of the country, this will balance out. For instance, the three Ohio states would likely have two Democrat senators and four Republican ones.
If you look at the enmity in this country today, which we see as Democrat vs. Republican, it may have more to do with rural versus city than anything else. Rural dwellers have little in common with the city dwellers.
What you consider traffic on North High Street in the mornings in Hillsboro is laughable here in Atlanta. Conversely, if a Hillsboro citizen drives through here on their way to Florida, I expect they start to tense up in anticipation just south of Chattanooga.
The traffic situation is all relative, by the way. Several years ago, I had my son-in-law with me and we had been out to eastern Highland County, to Cynthiana and beyond across the county line. We came back into Hillsboro about 5 p.m. On North High Street, in front of Walgreens, he remarked about the traffic. I laughed at him. He has spent his entire life driving around Atlanta, but his immediate past reference was Barrett Mill Road.
The point is this: We are two countries. There is a city component and a rural component. If we change the political boundaries to match, we just may have a better chance of living in peace and harmony.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.
HCP columnist
When it comes to California splitting into three states, the problem may be they just did not go far enough. Nevertheless, we can build on this and run with it.
It makes a lot of sense to split the big cities off from the rest of the state to which they currently are attached and make them separate city-states. After all, Washington, D.C. has always existed in this fashion, no reason we can’t roll it out nationwide.
An excellent example is Chicago. Take Chicago and Rockford in Illinois and in Wisconsin, Milwaukee and Madison, and roll this whole region into a state of its own. It has nothing in common with downstate Illinois or upstate Wisconsin.
Think of it this way: Let the big MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) wallow in their own problems. People in Cairo, Ill. – 373 miles from Chicago – have nothing in common with Chicago.
Another great candidate is New York City/Long Island. Cut them off from the rest of the state. Do you know the revenue generated by Niagara Falls is not used to support the city of Niagara Falls? It goes to New York City.
Here in Georgia, chop off the northwest corner, including greater Atlanta, from the downstate. Atlanta has as much in common with Waycross as Baghdad does with Baltimore (well, maybe that is a bad example).
In Ohio, it might get a little trickier. I would suggest putting the Cincinnati/Dayton/Springfield area in with Columbus and Cleveland, using I-71 as something of a gerrymandering link to tie them all together. They certainly have more in common with each other than they do rural Ohio.
As for the balance of the state, I would make northwest Ohio its own state and southeast Ohio its own state. These two largely rural areas have nothing in common with each other or the cities. I doubt there is even a buckeye tree in northwestern Ohio.
The cities have become so much different than the rural areas as time has gone by. The cities are artificial places attractive to people that like such places. They have their own unique set of problems accompanied by their own high costs. Let them deal with this on their own.
The left likes to say the Constitution is old-fashioned and out of date. In this specific area, I may agree with them.
The Constitution was written before the Industrial Revolution took off. The Industrial Revolution is largely responsible for agglomerating people in the crowded spaces we call cities. The exceptions in those days were the ports, such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia and so on.
Proponents of the California split point out that what is now California will end up with six senators and likely four of those will be Democrat seats. That’s OK. In these other parts of the country, this will balance out. For instance, the three Ohio states would likely have two Democrat senators and four Republican ones.
If you look at the enmity in this country today, which we see as Democrat vs. Republican, it may have more to do with rural versus city than anything else. Rural dwellers have little in common with the city dwellers.
What you consider traffic on North High Street in the mornings in Hillsboro is laughable here in Atlanta. Conversely, if a Hillsboro citizen drives through here on their way to Florida, I expect they start to tense up in anticipation just south of Chattanooga.
The traffic situation is all relative, by the way. Several years ago, I had my son-in-law with me and we had been out to eastern Highland County, to Cynthiana and beyond across the county line. We came back into Hillsboro about 5 p.m. On North High Street, in front of Walgreens, he remarked about the traffic. I laughed at him. He has spent his entire life driving around Atlanta, but his immediate past reference was Barrett Mill Road.
The point is this: We are two countries. There is a city component and a rural component. If we change the political boundaries to match, we just may have a better chance of living in peace and harmony.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.