I asked a colleague in 2018, a historian with whom I worked for decades, whether we are simply too big for democracy to work any more. He was so taken aback but it goes to the diversity question. Yes, it was an interesting observation from this reader. Thanks!
The observation about the parochialism of DC government folks is well taken, and could apply to New York City and other centers key to our national life, including Silicon Valley. Major urban centers tend see themselves as superior. Upstate New Yorkers complain about NYC being far out of touch with them, and folks in Philadelphia consider all of the rest of Pennsylvania as "upstate." East and West Coasts are quite different, let alone Alaska and Hawaii. Although deceased, Seymour Martin Lipset would probably have agreed that there are many levels of provincialism and that comparison and contrast are useful at each level, to better understand the context and culture of that particular level. I have found that each major city has its own personality. I have wondered for some time whether the diversity of the US, on many measures, militates against effective governance at the national level.
I asked a colleague in 2018, a historian with whom I worked for decades, whether we are simply too big for democracy to work any more. He was so taken aback but it goes to the diversity question. Yes, it was an interesting observation from this reader. Thanks!
Plus our huge territorial and population size.
The observation about the parochialism of DC government folks is well taken, and could apply to New York City and other centers key to our national life, including Silicon Valley. Major urban centers tend see themselves as superior. Upstate New Yorkers complain about NYC being far out of touch with them, and folks in Philadelphia consider all of the rest of Pennsylvania as "upstate." East and West Coasts are quite different, let alone Alaska and Hawaii. Although deceased, Seymour Martin Lipset would probably have agreed that there are many levels of provincialism and that comparison and contrast are useful at each level, to better understand the context and culture of that particular level. I have found that each major city has its own personality. I have wondered for some time whether the diversity of the US, on many measures, militates against effective governance at the national level.