What if California's boundaries were redrawn according to population, just as congressional districts are redistributed every decade?
Take a peek at artist Neil Freeman's illustration of the United States broken up into 50 relatively equal chunks of 5.6 million people each. Freeman, who is also an urban planner, based his map on the 2000 census.
In Freeman's imagination, California would be divided into the new states of Willamette (including parts of Oregon), San Francisco Bay, San Joaquin, Mojave, Los Angeles, Orange, and Coronado. Because of its tiny population, Hawaii would join the state of Coronado, currently known as San Diego and Imperial counties.
Every 10 years, the federal government undertakes the herculean task of counting the nation's population to divvy up the seats of the U.S. House of Representatives among the states. Thanks to the Great Compromise, representation in the U.S. Senate is a flat two per state, but representation in the House is proportional.
Freeman's plan would require 14 U.S. Senators to represent the 38 million residents of California.
Using the count the U.S. Census Bureau produces every 10 years, the 435 house seats are redistributed among the states, according to a formula that Greg Giroux of Congressional Quarterlysays, "only someone with a doctorate in statistics can love, or truly comprehend."
Freeman said dividing the states by proportion would end the "over-representation of small states and under-representation of large states in presidential voting and in the U.S. Senate." The drawbacks, he said, would mean some county names duplicating in new states, and local governments would have to deal with a shift in state laws and procedures.
Still, under the new Freeman map, America would get some creative new states: Bitterroot, Cumberland, Great Smoky, and Sabine.
(h/t James Fallows. And there's a takedown this morning in Gawker.)
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