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PROPOSED SUPERSTATE
When the boundaries of the New England colonies -- later to become states -- were drawn some two hundred years ago, each seemed to encompass a vast area. It might take residents of each state a day or longer to reach their own capital traveling on foot, by wagon, by boat, or even on horseback.

New Englanders today are just minutes or hours from their state capitals by automobile and are often able to care for official matters by phone, fax, e-mail, or overnight delivery service. Might not the old boundaries be a bit outmoded?

Rhode Island was small in size, even by colonial standards, but religious differences seemed to dictate the need for a separate government. Is that still true today?

What about states such as California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Texas with populations and/or areas greater than the six New England states combined? Are their people suffering as a result?

Do we really need six governors, six legislatures and six separate state bureaucracies to govern New England?

Why not move into the next millennium with one streamlined state government over what might be renamed "NuEngland"?

DISCUSSION INVITED
The purpose of this website is to stimulate discussion of the NuEngland superstate concept.

No one here fanatically insists that this is the answer to all our problems. Nor is there any desire to implement an unworkable plan, nor to shove an unpopular idea down people's throats. Rather the NuEngland website was created in the hope that it would lead people to explore the possibilities, examine the ramifications, and decide democratically the outcome.

The NuEngland superstate is being proposed here, but it ought to be discussed from all angles in the newspapers, on television, and in the legislative chambers of the six states.

We lack the manpower and facilities to host an extensive dialog here in our webspace, but if serious and knowledgeable individuals submit articles that would put flesh on our barebones proposal, they will be considered for addition to the site. (No remuneration is offered, of course.)

FINANCIAL QUESTIONS
Saving money is the name of the game, and the taxpayers are the ones who stand to gain from consolidating our state governments.

Add up the salaries of the six New England state governors and the salaries of all the lawmakers in all six state legislatures, and then calculate eighty-three percent of that figure. This is the money that would be saved by New England having one governor instead of six and one legislature instead of six.

Now apply similar calculations to the various statehouse bureaucracies, administrative departments, and so on. Savings would be astronomical!

Can we simply total up the entire state budgets of the six states and figure eighty-three percent of that as expected savings? No, because some expenses--such as one license plate for each car--will remain nearly the same. The big savings will come from consolidating administration and overhead.

For example, looking again at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, we saw that the number of license plates will remain the same. But only one computer system will be needed to track the registrations, rather than six computer systems with six separate staffs operating them. And, even though the total quantity of license plates may remain the same, consolidating the process of obtaining and distributing them will result in some degree of savings.

Is there anyone reading this who would like to contribute some hard numbers? Your input would be most welcome. See "DISCUSSION INVITED".

Before leaving the topic of finances, however, this is also the time and place to propose one major new expense: construction of a new city, the NuEngland capital.

Rising from fields, farms and forests in the open country between Orange (MA) and Keene (NH), the new capital city could take its cues from the lessons learned in building Brasilia five thousand miles to the south. Public funds would be needed for the central public edifices and a few new roads, but the private construction generated all around them would be a bonanza for the whole region.

Hotels, conference centers, restaurants, office buildings, bedroom communities--all would spring up immediately in a building boom generating both corporate profits and worker prosperity.

At the same time the abandoned old government buildings on Boston's crowded Beacon Hill and similar facilities in the other five states can be leased to private developers who would transform them into historical parks.

Even before the dust begins to settle, tourists will stream into NuEngland, eager to see for themselves the newest of the new rising alongside the oldest of the old.

LEGAL QUESTIONS
The greatest challenge encountered in merging the six New England states will no doubt involve coming up with a set of laws. Each of the six has a vast library of lawbooks resulting from legislation amended, refined, and added-to over the centuries.

Although the end-product of the six legal systems is virtually identical--a thief ends up in jail--each takes a different route to its destination.

However, territorial mergers are common throughout history, so the process needed here is not without precedent. And, with some of the greatest law schools in the nation located in New England, there should be no lack of capable minds to do the work.

POLITICAL QUESTIONS
Must we give up ten of our senators, with the two from each state being replaced by a single pair representing NuEngland? Not necessarily.

Although the STATE governments will be consolidated into one, there is no need to alter the region's relationship with the federal government. Congressional and senatorial districts can remain the same, giving the people of NuEngland the same representation they have always had in Washington, DC.

SOCIAL QUESTIONS
Since the social welfare system is already undergoing reform due to recent changes in federal law, this would be an ideal time to combine the social agencies of the six states.

IMPACT ON THE REST OF THE U.S.
Although any impact on people living west of the Hudson River will be minimal, the consolidation of CT, ME, MA, NH, RI and VT into a NuEngland superstate can only benefit the rest of the U.S.

The most direct result predictable would be the formation of other regional combines: a new state called "Deseret" absorbing Arizona, Nevada, and Utah is conceivable, as is a merger of the Dakotas.

In practical terms, it will be easier to carry on interstate commerce with the reduction of multiple barriers. Interstate truckers driving in, for example, will be able to deal with one system of highway use taxes, rather than fill out forms and make remittances to six different departments of revenue.

Public discussion of the issue will, no doubt, bring other benefits to light.

THE INTERNET AND PEOPLE-POWER
The internet has the potential of giving new meaning to "grassroots" democracy.

This website itself is an example of how a private citizen can now call on the public to "lend me your ears" in a manner formerly available only to those wealthy enough to buy TV time or hire a publicity firm.

Such a new avenue for the free interchange of ideas can only serve to strengthen the mass-participation in government that has always been this nation's greatest strength.

Just as in the old "town meeting" days, the private citizen's voice can again be heard.

WHOSE IDEA IS THIS?
My name is Dave Reed, alias "Dave the Web Man", but far be it from me to claim the NuEngland superstate idea as my own. After all, as illustrated on the website, the New England colonies were united under one flag prior to the American Revolution.

I have no political ambitions--not even the desire to spearhead a drive to implement this plan. I'm merely tossing the ball into the public's court in the hope that others will start tossing it back and forth, resulting eventually in a whole new ballgame for New Englanders.

Personally, I'm just a web page designer with a little time on my hands this week, and the desire to experiment with a few Javascript techniques--such as the buttons above that light up "OnMouseOver."

If the NuEngland superstate concept does take off, and the news media become interested . . . sorry, but I'm not interested in doing any interviews. Photograph the website, and get your soundbites there. I'll surrender the limelight to the politicians who love it--even though many of them stand to lose their jobs should this idea fly.