The United States Must Decentralise or Else Face a Bleak Future

The United States is facing up to yet another polarising presidential election this November, in which a significant proportion of voters will not feel in any way represented by the victor. An American friend of mine recently commented to me that the way things are going in the United States, he would not be surprised if the country falls apart within a few generations, whether through peaceful secession of some States from the union, or through civil war. When the seat of the United States Congress is overrun with protesters and over 30% of a nation believes - rightly or wrongly - that its President was not legitimately elected, you know a government is facing a crisis of legitimacy.

American citizens are deeply divided across a host of issues, including abortion, sex education, immigration restrictions, welfare policy, the healthcare system, pandemic policy, climate and environmental policy, and gun control. Consequently, like it or not, any conceivable policy agenda advanced by the federal government as it is currently structured is bound to be profoundly alienating to a large chunk of the population, whether efforts by Democrats to expand welfare and abortion rights, or efforts by Republicans to protect the right to bear arms, or adopt less demanding environmental policies.

As long as the federal government of the United States has the power to fix national priorities across these hotly contested policy domains, the sense of popular discontent and alienation from the national State will grow steadily more palpable. And this sentiment of alienation may become even more explosive during a time of crisis, such as unmanageable levels of immigration or a major economic downturn.