The problem is power itself.

This blogger is worth your time. He has challenged a few of my assumptions, and I appreciate that.

Imagine a country where Hawaii or New York legalized drugs, allowed homosexuals to “marry,” and gave their citizens complete healthcare services. On the other hand, Utah or Idaho might ban abortions, abolish income taxes and mandate that every male citizen own a rifle. Then let people evaluate the various systems and move to the areas they liked or seek to emulate in their own states those laws that work elsewhere.

That's the country imagined, roughly, by the founders.

This nation was never meant to be a monolithic entity, with one-size-fits-all policy is dictated from Washington D.C., a capital every bit as alien and foreign and oppressive to most 21st century citizens as London was to most 18th century colonists.

Is it total lunacy to hope for radical decentralization? Perhaps. It's hard to imagine the circumstances that might allow -- necessitate? -- the localization of significant economic, cultural, and political powers.

I dream of two, three, four, many American republics.