I propose we take the results from the 2010 election and blue counties go to the libs and red counties go to the conservatives. And then we can fix the isolated locations through trade, county for county.
Good catch!
As I said (in a regrettably long-winded post upthread), it would be easy to make this happen. Simply limit the federal government to the bare minimum and allow the States to run themselves any way they choose. Then if you want to live in a "work" state and get a job there, that's where you live. If you want to live in a "welfare" state and can qualify for the dole there, that's where you live.
Of course, we have "work" and "welfare" states to some extent now. It's just that in the new system, a "welfare" state would have to come up with most of its own funding, from the citizens of that state. It wouldn't be able to rob the other states by way of the federal government.
So, actually, we don't need a 2-state solution. We need a 50-state solution.