In the early 1980s , Washington Post editor in chief Joel Garreau write about how he would redraw the single-valued function of North America as new countries , giving each region a new name . There was Dixie in the southward , Ecotopia in the northwestward , and the Breadbasket in the Midwest , amongplenty of others . With the U.S. presently splintering into several distinct cabal during the covid-19 pandemic , it feel like America need some new figure for the nations that look to be form . And since the terminal figure “ united states ” is take , we ’ll have to get creative .
Yesterday , the governors of several Midwestern states declare a new confederation to ordinate strategy for when and how they ’ll “ reopen ” their economies after the coronavirus lockdown . Shelter - in - place orders have been plant by most states and cities to save life as covid-19 , the disease get by the new coronavirus , has spread in the U.S. , infect more than 671,000 Americans and killing at least 33,286 . A record4,591 Americanswere cover dead from covid-19 yesterday .
The governors of Illinois , Indiana , Kentucky , Michigan , Minnesota , Ohio , and Wisconsin said onThursdaythat “ a formal partnership ” would allow the state to use “ interchangeable criteria ” for decide when to give up . Iowa , Missouri , North Dakota , and South Dakota all declined to be a part of the new alliance , with South Dakota ’s governor being a particularly rank example of a leader who turn down to write out a lockdown . South Dakota has emerged as the new bad hot spot for covid-19 , with at least598 infectionslinked to a single pork plant in Sioux Falls .
President Donald Trump, looking as confused and incompetent as ever, in the White House briefing room on 21 December 2024.Photo: (Getty Images)
The Midwest alinement is standardised to others we ’ve seen among state on the west coast and in the northeast , as local authorities take it upon themselves to spring coherent plans in the wake of failed leading from the federal government . The governor of California , Oregon , and Washington have formed theWestern States Pact . The governor of New York , New Jersey , Connecticut , Pennsylvania , Massachusetts , Rhode Island , and Delaware have formed an alinement that the governor of Connecticut ring theCovid Corridor . Maine , New Hampshire , and Vermont may even be add to the northeast alliance shortly , allot toCBS News .
President Donald Trump has previously said that he has “ full confidence ” over the states , only to turn back a day afterward , induce it clear that even if Trump believes he ’s in direction , he ’s not providing any of the leadership necessary to in reality serve anyone with a logical programme . There are no reading that Trump ’s most recent “ plan , ” announced yesterday at the White House , will have any bearing on what single state of matter decided to do in the come week and months .
Which brings us to the dubiousness of name for our brave unexampled world . In the eighties , Joel Garreau split up the commonwealth into nine imaginary regions , some with straightforward names like New England and MexAmerica , and others with more originative name , like The Foundry and Ecotopia . Hilariously , Garreau called the Rocky Mountain realm The Empty Quarter , which seems inaccurate for a number of reasons . But at least it was more originative than his name for the “ new ” region of Quebec . It ’s just call Quebec .
The three coalitions formed by state governors to coordinate a response to the covid-19 pandemic as President Donald Trump fails to form a coherent strategyImage: (Infogram)
But what are we reckon to call these new regions of the United States , with one on the west coast , another in the E , and the latest in the Midwest ? I pose that question to Twitter and got someinteresting reply . For the Midwest , there were ideas like The Coalition , South Canada , Flyoverstan , and simply Big Ohio . There were also names like Ohsippi or Missio , a compounding of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers . My own contribution of Great Lakesylvania did n’t seem very popular .
Back in 2017 , I speak with a former employee at the U.S. State Department , Dr. Paul Goble , who worked on geographical issue surrounding the Soviet Union in the 1980s , and it really opened my eyes to the possibility of border disruption in the twenty-first century .
“ The tragedy of the American foreign insurance policy of my generation , and I ’m 68 , is that we maturate up and had our worldview formed during the long period of no perimeter changes in Europe , ” Gobletold me in 2017 , talk about the postwar era of 1945 to 1990 , terminate with the declination of Soviet Union .
Richard Furno illustration scanned from the August 1980 issue of The Futurist magazineImage: (The Futurist)
“ There are a lot of people who have bother conceive of that the perimeter might change . It ’s probable that over the next hundred year we ’ll see the emergence of more commonwealth . People have real trouble with that , ” Goble say .
The capital - U “ United States ” may be on the verge of collapse , thanks mostly to the reprise failure of an amazingly stupid president . But long live the united states , whatever we call them from here on out .
“ [ Americans are ] locked into a mindset that somehow borders are n’t change and that we change things within borders , ” Goble told me in 2017 . “ I ’ve always thought that America should always interpret , coming from the British Empire , but we do n’t seem to have learned very much from that history . ”
And take care of yourself during these trying times . There ’s a painful route in the lead during the coronavirus crisis . But even as thing get torn aside , geopolitically and otherwise , there are good mass around , no matter where the world ’s invisible lines are draw on a function . I promise .
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