Neil Freeman's reformed map of the United States. Larger version here
Above is a brilliant cartographical thought experiment by artist and urban planner Neil Freeman. Responding to the wonky electoral college and the fact that sparsely populated regions have a disproportionate political power, while highly prosperous urban areas wield relatively little, he redrew the state boundaries along population and geographical boundaries. Each has (as of the 2000 census figures) roughly 5.6 million people.
It's particularly fascinating because it offers a snapshot of how an industrial society has changed and how some of the most important administrative divisions (states here or in Australia, provinces in Canada, etc.) fail to reflect that.
This would seem to be a trivial difference, but it's not. Witness how New York, a city with the GDP and population of a small country, feels stifled by the legislature in Albany. Witness how different the needs and views of the many different parts of California are (would LA or SF Bay states have a Prop 8?). I've heard more than one urban Canadian grouse about how much power remains in the hands of clueless provincial governments.
State governments were drawn up in the days when slower technology made quick administration over a nation difficult, and thus a middle layer of government was more essential. Today, the boundaries are essentially arbitrary, and state governments complicate a whole range of policies on important issues such as transportation and the environment. Even many smart people still (mistakenly) peg cultural qualities to certain states, whether dividing them into Red or Blue or swearing to boycott/move away from a particular one when the electorate votes the wrong way.
Freeman's map shows a country organized closer to how it actually functions: large rural swaths, clusters of medium-sized cities and a few super-dense city-states.
It's often said that the future is local. To some extent I think this is true: there's certainly a need for active, powerful local government along with a more self-sufficient economy. I also think that a grander-scale government entity is absolutely necessary to have a hope of tackling more massive problems. However, to fulfill that, a far larger structure than the traditional state/province is needed.
The larger question then, is where the state, history's political middle-man, fits in the future. Does it have one at all?
P.S. - Freeman's map also abolishes South Carolina. The official Breaking Time stance on this is Yes.
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