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captainlezbian ,

Unironically it would be an immensely powerful nation. Good food production, good infrastructure, two of the three largest cities in the United States, many world class universities and research institutes, good mineral wealth as far as the industrialized northern hemisphere goes, lots of water, great commercial projection capacity, and a metric fuck ton of people. All without any of the dead weight states except Indiana. And all we’d have to do is deal with a bit of people who speak French poorly and a province that’s far more liberal than its insane government (ON, but swap province for state and that describes OH too)

It’d also be an absolute powerhouse of workers rights

ProgrammerMan ,

Why are you name dropping Indiana? Indiana ranked 20th in terms of state GDP, and has a higher GDP than both Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as higher growth. I agree that the mid west would be a power house, but I don't understand why Indiana is a dead weight state.

captainlezbian ,

Because I’m an Ohioan who likes Michigan and I have to bully a neighbor. Also because the only place I’ve been to in Indiana since I was a teenager was Fort Wayne and you know what if you decide Ohio is worthless because you keep having to visit family in Dayton fair.

Also because it feels like punching down to mock their government’s decision to bring back AIDS. But I will stand in solidarity with Gary alongside Cleveland, Chicago, and Detroit as the great hellholes of the Great Lakes that actually aren’t even that bad anymore.

MistressMaiden ,

Someone gets it 🥹

pewgar_seemsimandroid ,

well the Atlantic ocean and by extension the baltic sea (russia is not apart of the baltic sea) are just giant salt lakes so why not include the Nordics and baltics and other's

Landsharkgun ,

This is just the Iroquois Confederacy with extra steps.

Bleach7297 ,
@Bleach7297@lemmy.ca avatar

This is just the Haudenosaunee with extra steps.

MistressMaiden ,

Maybe we should speed up the land back stuff and restore the Haudenosaunee to its rightful place ¯_(ツ)_/¯

captainlezbian ,

The Iroquois confederacy wasn’t perfect but it was actually a far bigger influence on American governance than people act like. It was a major nation and should be treated as an equal nation to the colonizers similarly to how we are treating such folks as the Aztec and Inca Empires. Also it still exists which I didn’t realize until I was fact checking some statements before making them and found the website of The Hadenosaunee Confederacy. So yeah they’re still around and their influence helped shape one of the most powerful nations the world has ever seen.

And on that note can we please rename Columbus Ohio to Hiawatha.

Duke_Nukem_1990 ,

You gotta hope Robert Evans doesn't get access to those nukes tho...

Toes ,
@Toes@ani.social avatar

Good luck getting Quebec to agree to that

niktemadur ,

Utah, WTF?
No.

KuroiKaze ,

Lol NYC is easily the only really valuable thing here. Chicago and Philly are way past their prime.

Darorad OP ,

Minneapolis is pretty nice, though not the economic powerhouse of new york

dirkgentle ,

There's also Toronto and Montreal.

Bleach7297 ,
@Bleach7297@lemmy.ca avatar

And Ottawa! They matter too! Really!

MistressMaiden ,

Chicago’s been making a comeback, despite what people may say about it.

ThatFembyWho ,

Trust me, you don't want Indiana. You really don't.

If it comes down to it, carve out the lakeside and discard the rest. Keep the dunes and miss the crazy racist Christo-fascists...

megopie ,

What the Utah doin? I’m sorry but there is nothing great about the salt lake.

Darorad OP , (edited )
megopie ,

The name is a lie, it is not great

Zoot ,
@Zoot@reddthat.com avatar

I don't see any ports to the ocean. The map is a lie!

lengau ,

Then you seem to be missing a chunk...

Both of those are significantly greater than lake saltyboi

Darorad OP ,

Ah, but those are in the northwest territories, not a state or province

figaro ,

Believe me, you don't want Utah either. Mormons are nice but you have to deal with rogue polygamist communities, hyper conservatives, and the fact that the state is essentially run by the church.

EvilEyedPanda ,

Together we can kick out Nestlé and supply the world with affordable drinking water!

meep_launcher ,
Infynis ,
@Infynis@midwest.social avatar

Why is Quebec included? They don't even want to be part of the country they are a part of

greedytacothief ,

I think it has to do with the st. Lawrence. But yeah the queebs are weird.

Sethayy ,

great st Lawrence lake river

azertyfun ,

Although no-one likes the Québécois, and they don't like anyone else either, their linguistic and cultural ties to Europe allowed them to bring the Civil Code, delicious pastries, and proportional representation to the Constitution of this new country.

However they are now very resentful of the positive effect this had on the other States and a separatist Québécois party is trying to impose a Federal Pastry Export Moratorium.

scv ,

Could you say more about Quebec and proportional representation? I tried searching all I found were some articles about Quebec hating non proportional representation.

I live in the US were as far as I know proportional representation is not a thing, which is incredibly useful to maintain the two party system. I come from a more civilized place with proportional representation and universal healthcare and it hurts so much to see how broken this country is.

azertyfun ,

Québec doesn't have it, I'm European but I can only surmise that were they given a chance, they'd run with the opportunity to fix FPTP. Unlike the Anglosphere they are way less stuck with the "we have to democracy the British way" mindset.

scv ,

Thank you, it's just crazy how bad the electoral system is in the US.

Pointless side note: autocomplete wrote "electrical system" above and that is also true.

aBundleOfFerrets ,

idn dawg, I haven’t had an issue with the US electrical grid in the past ten years and the local energy companies are leaning hard into renewables.

scv ,

https://www.popsci.com/story/environment/why-us-lose-power-storms/

The US ranks 126 by percentage of renewable energy production in the world. Also this has nothing to do with the quality of the grid.

You might live in an area where the grid is good, but a lot of the US is an embarrassment. Propane had a storm this winter that left a lot of people without power for several days. Texas is... Texas it can't handle cold or hot weather. California's grid main purpose seems to be starting fires.

aBundleOfFerrets ,

Texas shouldn’t be included imo, they decided to shovel feces into their mouth and can’t be helped, and cali is an outlier among the states

scv ,

So you don't want to include the two most populous states that account for 20% of the US population?

Texas being a leader in coprophagia doesn't make it not the US.

cypherpunks ,
@cypherpunks@lemmy.ml avatar
troyunrau ,
@troyunrau@lemmy.ca avatar

Somehow they included Great Salt Lake. It is a "great" "lake" ;)

But they left out Great Slave Lake, and Great Bear Lake because they don't know Canadian geography. ;)

cypherpunks ,
@cypherpunks@lemmy.ml avatar

Great Salt Lake

lol, i guess that must be why.

fwiw, regardless of its name or how great it is, it is not one of the Great Lakes 😂

ironhydroxide ,

Not to mention the high likelyhood of it pulling a Salton sea remake in the next couple decades.

Viking_Hippie ,
Cipher22 ,

Pretty sure a friend out that way mentioned "Lake" may be a generous title anymore.

Darorad OP ,

Yeah, it's like 1/3 the size of used to be, and there's also toxic dust that'll give a bunch of cancer when the Republicans refuse to do anything about it in like 5 years.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/drying-great-salt-lake-could-expose-millions-to-toxic-arsenic-laced-dust-180981439/

joyjoy ,

To be fair, the Great Salt Lake isn't so great anymore.

flamingos ,
@flamingos@ukfli.uk avatar

No state that includes Quebec can be considered great.

Also why is Utah highlighted.

0110010001100010 ,
@0110010001100010@lemmy.world avatar

Nor Ohio, we're anything but great.

AngryCommieKender ,

You got King's Island and Cedar Point

Montagge ,
@Montagge@kbin.earth avatar
Stanley_Pain ,
@Stanley_Pain@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Screams at you in poutine.

thesporkeffect ,

*coldest

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