How would we as a nation deal with 50 different types of manufacturing designs that would result from having different standards?For example,...

Although the scenario you describe would be somewhat of a
problem for "us as a nation," it would be more of a problem for
businesses.

Imagine, in the scenario you give, being a cigarette
lighter manufacturer. If you wanted to sell your product in all 50 states, you would have to
creat 50 different types of lighters. This would mean that you would have to incur much higher
costs as you made sure that you were in compliance with 50 different sets of regulations. You
would have to design 50 different lighters, make 50 different sets of tools for making the
lighters, etc.

The nation as a whole would, most likely, be faced
with higher prices for various goods in the scenario you are imagining. All the different
standards would cause the manufacturers to incur higher costs. These costs would likely be passed
on to the consumer.

So, if the question is how we would "deal with"
this situation, it is likely that our only choice would be to either pay higher prices or go
without some products that we now use.