All right. I admit it. Rastafarians Hair Club for Men might have lacked a promising market. And maybe Communist Coffee (we're all in this pot together) wasn't going to attract many American customers outside of maybe Cambridge, MA and San Francisco. I was never that optimistic about the Animist Gospel Choir so maybe it's better I didn't have children to serve as vehicles for names like Elvis, Roosevelt or Mojo (Moses Jones).
But try this on for size. I propose that Louisiana and Mississippi should trade names. The landmass of the present Louisiana is a creation of the Mississippi River. New Orleans is for better or worse America's principle ocean port on the Mississippi. Its culture, opportunity, success and failure are all tied to the river and its various forces.
Mississippi (the state) was once part of the French colony of Louisiana and celebrated Mardi Gras before New Orleans. Thereofre given its rank of dead last in income and education, the place could use an image boost. If Haley Barbour is serious about running for president in 2012, he should get his good-ol-boy self squarely behind this and make it happen. Who knows, it might even open the door for more states to improve their reputations among the country at large. Are New Yorkers too obnoxious for you? Poof!! Not any more, they traded names with Minnesota! Massachusetts too liberal? Poof!! Trade with Alabama!! Combine the names to ease the transition; New-sota, Massabama, Alachusetts. Better yet, still states could sell naming rights and reduce their debt. Foreign corporations? No problem. Texas would become Tsingdao-land and Oregon transform itself into Shenzen Partners Territory.
Oh the joy of thinking outside the box or in this case out of state.