Thread by @interfluidity

One of the more interesting and nuanced calls for devolution to address bitter US political divides, by @RajaKorman. 1/

https://twitter.com/RajaKorman/status/1292954178176737281

I don't see those divides as purely or even mostly geographic. (In fact, I see them largely as artifacts of the incentives that govern the political parties who n turn reshape our politics and our selves, qua @leedrutman isbn.nu/0190913851) 2/

So I'm skeptical of devolution as a solution to our deadlocked bitterness. If we became several fully independent nations that kept our current electoral system, we'd soon all become little UKs, bitterly divided within while also scapegoating greater America like an EU. 3/

But @RajaKorman isn't calling for this, I don't think. He's calling for a rebalancing within, which could usefully cross-cut national politics and reduce the destructive homogenizing power of the two national political parties. 4/

I don't think that it's a good idea at all to imagine we could divide into "Red America" and "Blue America", as if those represent pre-existing stable preferences of different peoples who'd get along if only they had self-determination. 5/

I think that you have basically been conned by our political parties, if you think that would work for more than a short period of time. 6/

But readjusting American federalism to build internal "superstates" that might be fiscal rivals of the Federal government, in order to restore more heterogeniety of allegiances to US politics and reduce the binary, zero-sum game, aspect of it, seems not unreasonable. 7/

I think it'd be much easier to remedy America's "doom loop" (in @leedrutman term) as Drutman suggests, by a simple act of Congress that alters our electoral system towards one that favors several parties and proportional representation. 8/

But finding ways of increasing the fiscal salience of subnational, but super-state, provinces would not be ridiculous (it's kind of a Canadian solution, I think). I think it harder in practice, and more indirect, than other reforms. But worth thinking about. 9/

Encouraging reforms like the issuance of municipal scrips interfluidity.com/v2/7513.html or the chartering of state-affiliated banks by subnational governments could also increase the fiscal flexibility and relevance of subnational units, and so diversify the tropism of US politics./fin