The United States as Provinces

As everyone know, the United States is made up of 50 states that have been added to the Union over the past 200+ years. The structure set up allows for each state to have semi-equal opportunities to set up their own economy, infrastructure and sets of rules. The structure as we know it has allowed each state to prosper with similar infrastructure and rules. Some states differ on their political tendencies. For example, the State of Texas is more likely to have rules that favor Republican ideology while California would favor Democratic ideology.

In this timeline, the United States is now only known as the Greater Provinces. The United Provinces is divided between five geographical areas. There is the Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, Midwest, and South[MOU1] . This would allow the Greater Provinces to have a system in place that makes larger regions the exact same. This system creates an equal opportunity and laws for large portions of the economy.

'''Economy '''

            The use of provinces would allow each region to become a focused area of expertise. The region best designed for something will be the ones that do this. The provinces could basically act as many countries that are supporting one another for the common good. For example, the Midwest could be an agriculture-based economy[MOU2] . Some career paths and expertise would have to be inter-regional, such as any medical career, construction, mechanics to name a few.

The Northeast region would have the largest influx in economy. The region is dominated by major cities and governmental power. New York is the capital of the world. It is not only the biggest and most influential city in the world, but it also is home to the Federal Government of The Greater Provinces of America. New York being home to Wall Street makes it the home for the richest of the rich but like any city there is a fair share of poorer people. The region is rounded out by two other major cities, Philadelphia and Boston, along with mass amounts of farmland, fishing, and forestry.

The South’s economy is dominated by farming and agriculture. Giant plantations are the predominate economic cultivators. These plantations led to there being a great wealth divide the poorer farmers and the land owners. In order to facilitate the products being produced, the South had two major cities developed to act as the central hub. Houston and Atlanta were the two cities. The cities developed into large scale shipping and airplane hubs for the entire Greater Provinces. These cities helped provide an opportunity for some people to escape the constant cycle of poor tenant farming. The third and most influential part of their economy is the oil drilling off the Gulf of Mexico.

The Midwest region’s economy is influenced by agriculture and manufacturing. There is three main cities in the region that contributes seventy-five percent of the countries manufacturing capabilities. Cars, steel, energy, coal, wood, etc. are all produced in the area. Almost fifty percent of the regions population is in these three cities. The rest of the region is agriculture heavy. The agricultural presence is truly family based instead of large plantation owners.

The Northwest’s economy is controlled by three large port cities. These cities are major port cities and technological advancements. Many of the technological advancements and data centers are located here. The people of these cities are vastly wealthy compared to most other regions cities. The region outside of the three cities is a wreck however. Most of the regions square mileage is covered by rough regions of unlawfulness and lack of economic development.

The Southwest’s economy is mainly made up of mining and oil drilling. The people whom own these companies are some of the wealthiest people in the entire country. The workers however are underpaid and work in harsh conditions. The only city developed in the region is Los Angeles and it is used predominately as a major shipping port.

Infrastructure

The use of provinces makes infrastructure a complex fix. In states, each individual state is responsible for funding their infrastructure and this leads to infrastructure that is failing[MOU3] . In the province setting each setting is responsible for taxing their residents the way they feel necessary. In regions where there is greater population and economic structure, i.e. the Northeast, Midwest, and South. These regions have greater financial capabilities to fund infrastructure projects throughout the region. The highly populated coastal cities in the west also have exceptional infrastructure but the rest of the western two regions lag behind the rest of the country.

'''Laws and Legislation'''

            Laws in the United Provinces would differ greatly to what would have been seen in our timeline. Voting would be predominately the same but instead of having an electoral college, elections would be won by whomever received 3/5th of the regions. Congress would be similar as; the House of Representatives would be divided by population and the Senate would be divided evenly with each region receiving 20 representatives[MOU4] . This would give the three eastern regions more representatives to balance the House of Representatives for the population differences. National law would still reign supreme, but each province would have more freedom to make laws that fit their agenda. Laws would differ strongly in this timeline because each region has more representatives to push the political leaning of the whole region. For example, the Northwest is known to be liberal, so the region can legislate laws that fits their narrative[MOU5] . The differences are easily seen in the western too regions. These two regions have vast areas of unlawfulness that would not be tolerated in the three more developed regions. The cities typically have more liberal policies such as gun control and protection for abortions.

The use of province would make what is know as the United States into more of a country that is filled with five smaller countries that work together to self-abstain. There would less intraprovince movement in this timeline but it would make for a more efficient unit.

[MOU1]Why did you leave Alaska and Hawaii out? Are they their own countries? Under someone elese control?

[MOU2]Flesh this out a bit more and discuss the economy of each region.

[MOU3]How is infrastructure funded in each place? If they are funded by taxes, how are populations distributed? Do we still have highly-populated coastal cities and few people in the great plains?

[MOU4]This brings up my population question again.

[MOU5]Give us some examples of laws that are different across provinces.