Here is a discussion of US political regions that may be of interest. Don't
know how much it matches your thoughts, but it might give you ideas.
http://www.massinc.org/Commonwealth/new_map_exclusive/beyond_red_blue.ht
ml I though it especially interesting that it doesn't split the country up by
state, but looks more closely at details
Greetings Karl Heinz
> --- KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de wrote:
http://www.massinc.org/Commonwealth/new_map_exclusive/beyond_red_blue.ht
ml
> I though it especially interesting that it doesn't
It's a start. Thanks.
> --- KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de wrote:
http://www.massinc.org/Commonwealth/new_map_exclusive/beyond_red_blue.ht
ml
> I though it especially interesting that it doesn't
I looked at it's details more closely too, and have a few critiques of it.
Mind you, my main critique is of it's analysis of the Western US, specifically
the Pacific Northwest.
If you look at the detailed map of the west coast half fo the Upper Coasts
region, you'll see it's split into two green areas divided by one little
sliver of white (Sagebrush) that splits them. That sliver of white is the
county where I was born, spent my teen years, and graduated from High School
(Douglas County). The southernmost end of the top green area, just above
Douglas County, is where I live now (Lane County).
In terms of current US national politics, it's a pretty accurate assesment of
the Northwest, so I'm assuming it is also true in other regions. However, for
the purposes of my game background, it addresses too specifically NATIONAL
issues, and not enough
regional/local issues that are not on the natiuonal
scope, particularly the cultural attitudes of westerners towards other
westerners from a given
state/region. Specifically, the Southern Oregon,
Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, and Northern
California (North of sonoma/Napa counties especially)
perception that the more poulous regions of the states leave them out of the
loop in Salem, Sacramento, and Olympia.
So let us assume for the sake of the storyline that prior to the balkanization
of the entire nation, we have a period of intrastate balkanization, where
larger western states split into smaller states (based on political
referendum, not the old population criterion). It is highly likely that
Southern Oregon and Northern California would split from their respective
states and form Jefferson, a movement with cultural historic significance
here. Furthermore, as a WA poster has mentioned, Eastern WA would probably
split too, and Palous seems a likely name for the new state, or it might join
Idaho. Eastern Oregon would probably like to do the same thing.
However, once these new states are formed, if the country itself broke up, and
they were forced to form new countries to survive, it's highly unlikely most
of them could make it on their own, and they would be forced to form new
unions. In that case, while Jeffersonians would have historically felt
alienated from both Oregon AND California, they'd probably be more likely to
join a Northwestern nation than to join Southern California.