bkmk
Cities are becoming increasingly irrelevant as information workforces can operate from anywhere. Fast infrastructure means people in rural areas have most of the advantages of cities with few of the disadvantages.
Cities have enormous disadvantages as political structures, because they naturally lend themselves to central control and planning by a political elite.
Bookmark.
Can’t say I share in the author’s idealization of city-states. Too many of those cities are dominated by people whose only talent is playing politics and taking graft. I think the country is actually moving away from the centralized population centers and will be better for it.
FORTUNATELY.
What a crock.
Maine, part of a Boston city state? The Portland area is liberal and geographically close to Boston, but Maine’s Second Congressional District, 27,000+ square miles in area and 80% of the state, mostly rural, went for Trump by 10 points.... has NOTHING in common with Boston. It’s like saying Brooklyn, New York and Fairbanks, Alaska are similar. Ridiculous.
Maine is conceal carry, Constitutional carry, private gun sales, strong second amendment country, hunting and fishing, etc. Boston is not.
The idiot author wants metropolitan control over every aspect of life. He can go copulate himself.
The so-called city-states of America may collectively poll more humbers of people, but they do not obtain the most economic production, which suprasses them with all the PRODUCTION, collectively, outside of the largest “city-states”.
Also, what the author calls “fragmentation” is actually political and cultural separation between many large city-states and the states they are a par of.
This is NOT a polticial “disaster”. It forces compromises between competing interests and that is always what is good for the whole in the long run.
Rome was a city-state that overwhelmed the regions around it and when it no longer needed to consider the interests of the regions, it decended from a Republic to tyranny.
To be governed by city-states is nothing other than to surrender government of everything outside the major cities, to the majorities in the major cities alone. With one Rome in Washington D.C. and many Romes around the country, each dominating all those around them that are not really part of them. With the rest of the decline of federalism, the heads of the city-states will be little princes to the king in Washington D.CD.
Using County boundaries is easy, convenient, and inaccurate.
Using a combination of County boundaries and major highways would be more precise.
In southcentral PA York and Adams counties on the Maryland border are basically partitioned by US Route 30.
South of 30 the loyalties are to Maryland...”go Ravens!”
North of 30 the loyalties are more toward Harrisburg and the cities along the PA Turnpike....”go Steelers!”.
I like this. My rural area of IL has nothing in common with Chicago which dominates everything in state government. We would be far better off as part of a similar rural area with smaller cities.
A regurgitation of regional government.
The major downside of cities is they create dependency.
Just no
Looks like a nifty way to take away any voice left for the folks outside of the city.
bump for later