So, which States are doing best ...

I had a good snort of the USA Today article on the 5-best and 5-worst run states.

Let us see ... is there a common thread?

Top-5:
1. North Dakota: .7 million citizens; The Far West/Midlands.
- Governor: Republican since 1992
- State House: Republican
- State Senate: Republican
2. Wyoming: .6 million citizens; The Far West.
- Governor: Republican since 2011.
- State House: Republican
- State Senate: Republican
3. Iowa: 3.1 million citizens; The Far West/Midlands.
- Governor: Republican since 2011.
- State House: Republican
- State Senate: Democrat
4. Nebraska: 1.9 million citizens; The Far West/Midlands.
- Governor: Republican since 1999.
- Unicameral: Non-partisan, but 30 of 49 identify as Republican.
5. Utah: 2.9 million citizens; The Far West.
- Governor: Republican since 1985.
- State House: Republican
- State Senate: Republican

Bottom-5:
46. Nevada: 2.8 million citizens; The Far West.
- Governor: Republican since 1999.

- State House: Democrat
- State Senate: Democrat
47. Rhode Island: 1.1 million citizens; Yankeedom.
- Governor: Independent/Democrat since 2011.
- State House: Democrat
- State Senate: Democrat
48. Illinois: 12.9 million citizens; Yankeedom/Greater Appalachia.
- Governor: Democrat since 2003.
- State House: Democrat
- State Senate: Democrat
49. New Mexico: 2.1 million citizens; El Norte/Far West.
- Governor: Republican since 2011.
- State House: Democrat
- State Senate: Democrat
50. California: 38.0 million citizens; The Left Coast/El Norte.
- Governor: Democrat since 2011.
- State House: Democrat
- State Senate: Democrat

I think that tells a story quite well from a political party point of view. Nothing more for me to say than, "Bask in it."

A few sidenotes. Something I noticed in the years I lived overseas; smaller nations tended to be better governed and reflect the needs of their citizens than larger ones. That plays out here a bit.

Though a flawed book towards the end where his anti-Southern bigotry bled through, I've also included the one-to-two most dominate sub-national characters of each state as outlined in Colin Woodard's, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America.


Hey, here is a radical concept. What if we actually followed Plan Salamander (AKA how this experiment in self-governance known as the USA is supposed to be run, I've stolen the idea from a bunch of dead white guys) to our challenges like health care - 50 experiments. If something works in one State, others will adopt it. If something is a complete Obamaesque trainwreck, then other States won't and the whole nation won't be hobbled as the State that made a bad decision tries to fix its mistake.

Crazytalk, I know.