[ExI] size of polities

[Tom Tobin]

On 2/17/08, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:
> One obvious idea that emerges from this is that most nations
> are too large to properly reflect the desires of an individual
> citizen. The U.S. in effect tried to solve this problem by
> having numerous states with separate laws, but eventually
> most regulation was taken over by the federal government.
>
> More people would vote if the representatives they were
> electing could effectively represent them in much smaller
> legislatures, too.

In my case, this is accurate; I don't vote because my vote is
statistically insignificant, and I will continue to abstain from
voting until that changes.

> Courts that rule over very large regions containing very
> many people tend to embrace very abstract ideals at the
> cost of local knowledge. A good example is the American
> Supreme Court's boldness in trying to address schoolroom
> conditions all over the vast nation. Why should whatever
> is true about some small school in South Carolina be true
> of a California school in the middle of Los Angeles?

I'm ambivalent regarding a stronger "states' rights" legal framework.
On one hand, it's awful to have misguided federal policy trump
insightful local policy; on the other, I fear for those unable to
abandon a maleficent state (e.g., minors) under a strong states'
rights system.