This country was founded on the idea of localism, sovereignty, and succession. Ever since the Civil War, it has been de facto illegal for states to secede or even to create new states within existing ones. This is not what the founders wanted.
Why should there be only 50 states? Why not 100? Why not every city be its own micro state? The major metropolitan areas are so divergent from the rest of the country, why can’t they get their own representation? And why can’t states leave the union if they so choose?
My proposal is as follows:
1.) It becomes legal for any state or local region to secede from the Union if they so choose
2.) It becomes legal for any region of the US to become a new state of its own, if they so choose
I imagine in practice most states will stay, with perhaps TX or CA leaving.
I also think in practice the best way would be to turn every major city into a city-state and the countryside of the existing state into another state.
This would functionally double the amount of states in the Union, as most states are about one major city and the rest countryside. This would retain the roughly equal number of Blue vs Red states while making local and national elections far less existential. Anyone concerned about any issue need only drive 20 miles to find agreeable policies.
America was founded as a federation of sovereign republics, not some megalith Empire run by beauracrats. We are not China, we don’t have to become like them. Let us return to our roots and who we are as a people.