The Tory shires are Tory for much the same reason: the working class were driven out of them faster than they could organise electorally. PR would make things better in the US, as here, of course. But their written constitution is every bit as stupefying as our non-existent one.
The vision - labour intensive, technologically sophisticated co-operative food production - is intensely appealing. But to stand a chance it must be tied to a broader vision of democracy itself as a cooperative endeavour, characterised by communication between equals.
It's this vision - tying reform of the state directly to reform of the economy - that can unify diverse popular constituencies, and provide a template for radically democratic initiatives below the level of the national state.
US states are sovereign, except in matters expressly defined in the constitution - all of them could become prototype cooperative commonwealths. At each level down the powers are more restricted, but the barriers are lower.
England's local govts - feeble though they seem when compared with US equivalents - are freighted with untested democratic potential. Preston shows some of what is possible here. (And Preston's example might be what prompts Toryism's newfound interest in local gov 'reform'.)
Eliminate the districts by Parliamentary fiat, before anyone realises what a democratic reform movement might be able to do with them.
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