America needs some new states to allow expression of greater diversity [smaller is better]

Noah Millman, America Needs More Than Just 50 States, The NYTimes, July 7, 2021:

This is a problem. America needs new states not only to provide representation for those living in territories but also more urgently to provide adequate representation to those who have congressional representation but whose votes perversely carry less weight because of their state’s size.

And America needs new states to improve the internal governance of the states and the country. We need new states — and the place to start is to carve them out of the largest states that already exist.

Since 1980, about 40 percent of America’s population growth has accrued to only three megastates: California, Texas and Florida. California has more than eight times the population of the median U.S. state; on its own, Los Angeles County would be the 10th-largest state in the union. The four largest states by population now make up roughly one-third of the population of the entire United States — more than the smallest 34 put together.

This poses a critical problem for democratic legitimacy primarily because of the Senate. Those four largest states have only eight senators, while the 34 smallest states have a supermajority of 68. Because of the unusually large scope of power granted to America’s upper house — the Senate not only is capable of blocking legislation but also plays a key role in approving many presidential appointments, members of the judiciary and treaties with other countries — such an acute disproportion of representation effectively disenfranchises much of America’s population. [...]

One reason to break up the largest states, then, is to give their citizens something closer to appropriate representation. [...] So another reason to break them up is to reduce the power they exert over the country.

Thus, for example:

But carving the four megastates into three or more states each might have a host of benefits for their internal governance as well.

For example, New York City currently lacks many powers that are crucial to management, like full control of its transportation system. If, as part of a larger national reorganization, New York City were to become a city-state — as Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen are in Germany — it could assume most of those powers, while its senators in Washington could focus on a national agenda relevant to urban America. Inasmuch as New York City needs partners to coordinate with, the most important ones are in New Jersey and Connecticut, not in Buffalo and Rochester — so splitting up New York State could give new momentum to proposals for regional governance across state lines. [...]

Similarly, splitting California into at least three states — as has been proposed before, most recently in a failed ballot initiative — would allow its very different regions to pursue policies appropriate to their character and interests.

The late Thomas Naylor, would agree, though the solution he proposed for the problem was perhaps a bit more drastic, break America into 20 different countries (and break up other large countries as well). See the collection Charlie Keil and I have put together, Thomas Naylor's Paths to Peace: Small Is Necessary (Local Paths to Peace Today, Vol. 2). Here's how Naylor thought America should be divided up (pp. 87-88):

1. New Acadia – Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont (and possibly four Atlantic provinces of Canada)
2. New England – Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island
3. Upstate New York
4. New York City
5. Pennsylvania Republic – Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania
6. New Republic – District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia
7. New South – Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia
8. Florida – (possibly South Florida as a separate republic)
9. Texas – (possibly South Texas as a separate republic)
10. Mid-West – Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma
11. Upper Mid-West – Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin
12. Chicago – Cook County
13. Middle America – Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio
14. Great Plains – Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota
15. Rocky Mountain Republic – Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming
16. California
17. Los Angeles – Los Angeles County
18. Cascadia – Oregon, Washington, (possibly British Columbia)
19. Alaska
20. Hawaii