How can we make West Virginia jokes if West Virginia goes away?

State divisions play an important part in the moderation of the federal government. There are 3 branches of government, and each is controlled by a combination of the people and the states.
  • The legislative branch - House representation is based on population and directly elected by the people. Senate representation is (supposed to be) the state governments' voice in the federal government. 2 per state, and prior to the 17th amendment Senators were chosen by the state governments. The 17th needs to be repealed as it has further marginalized state power, and to get election money and influence out of at least one chamber of Congress.
  • The executive branch - President "elected" by the people, but with a skewed mechanism to prevent the tyranny of large states. The all-or-nothing electoral vote system most states use needs to be changed, but that can be fixed at the state level, the feds have no say in how those votes are determined. Appointments and treaties made by the executive branch must be vetted by the states, in the form of the Senate.
  • The judicial branch - see above about appointments.


Getting rid of the state governments (and their role in the federal government) would be a bad thing, as this would skew power to the large population centers. Most fiscal conservatives also believe tax dollars are better and more efficiently spent locally.