Mideast Region Senator's Thread

[Sam Spade]

You're still the Senator of District 3, not of the Mideast Region.

[Sam Spade]

a question to anyone who is in the position to answer:

is there any constitutional provision requiring that we have five regions?  because if not, we could have Pennsylvania and New Jersey join the Northeast, with West Virginia, Maryland,Delaware, and the District of Columbia joining the Southeast,with the boundary between the two regions set roughly at the Mason-Dixon Line dividing North from South. 

While the Constitution does not explicitly state that their must be 5 regions the wording is set up so that 5 regions is the normal and should be continued. Otherwise the number of Senators would change, the number of governors, who draw up the districts, would have to be changed, and certain provisions in the exchanging of states would have to be reworded.

i understand the implications (or at least i think i do) of such a change,but would it really be so traumatic to have the number of senators and governors reduced in number?  i think it would simplify matters a great deal ultimately if we have fewer regions and fewer districts as well.  i'm sure Sen. Sam Spade can weigh in here...... 

In any case, this should be offered up as either an amendment or as an alternate proposal, so elected officials can have more than one or two choices to pick from.  whatever happens, the current configuration of the regions must be changed to fit natural and cultural boundaries that is currently best represented by the district map i have already mentioned -that is the bottom line.  it doesn't have to match it state for state, but it should be a model for all to follow.  i don't care how you all arrive at it just so long as the final product is an improvement over what we have now.     

There was a long debate at the Constitution Convention before I got there over this particular issue:  as to the states in which Regions and as to how many there were.

Ironically, most of the people opposed to the 5 Region system wanted to have more Senators, like 12 and either squeeze the Regions down to 4 or up to 6.

Logically, the most widely supported of the two was squeexing the Regions down to 4, iirc, but it didn't have much support then, so the 5 Region system held, quite strongly I might add.

There probably isn't momentum to change it, but I could be wrong in my estimation of that.

[Sam Spade]

There was a long debate at the Constitution Convention before I got there over this particular issue:  as to the states in which Regions and as to how many there were.

Ironically, most of the people opposed to the 5 Region system wanted to have more Senators, like 12 and either squeeze the Regions down to 4 or up to 6.

Logically, the most widely supported of the two was squeexing the Regions down to 4, iirc, but it didn't have much support then, so the 5 Region system held, quite strongly I might add.

There probably isn't momentum to change it, but I could be wrong in my estimation of that.

what about there being momentum to change at least the boundaries of the regions as Sen. Jedi here is proposing?  i sense there is support for changing it, but i do not know whether there is enough to overcome Sen. Colin's rigid insistence that Pennsylvania be in the Northeast region -and not in the Mid-Atlantic. 

Honestly, Frodo, I sense there is momentum for certain minor changes to the Regions, specifically switching New Mexico and Montana and probably adding Virginia to the Southeast.

Whether there is the momentum for this big change, I am not sure.  I am fairly confident this will recieve widespread support in the Southeast and Pacific.  However, there is quite a good chance this will be strongly opposed in Pennsylvania, in the Mideast in general and perhaps the Northeast and the Midwest, though I am not as sure of this, and it would be on these merits as to decide whether the proposal succeeds or fails.

VP Bell's points are very important also, and will not be forgotten in my vote on this legislation, for there is more to life than Southeastern aggrandizement.