I think federated systems generally (even governmental) aren't sustainable because they require too much effort from individual users for them to remain good - so they trend toward single or few "owners."
I have no idea, but the idea of true hardcore federalism ended with the Civil War - for good reason in that case as you can't truly have it if there is an arbiter that can always trump the state if it sees fit. NAFTA, TPP have just eroded independence further.
I'm not saying it's good or bad, it's just what people want.
Nothing is really done by individuals, rather small high effort groups typically are the ones that make things happen. Even within those, you have a handful of powerful people and the rest are largely there for the ride. This is the whole idea behind "key influencers" and "network effects." Get enough of the big people on board and the rest just follow - it's literally the same in every facet of life.
If some form of the Jeffersonian proposal, that every citizen should have a self sustainable farm and gun, is what is necessary for sustainable, free society, Then you can wave that dream goodbye.
Wordpress also is not really a federated system, because the individual sites are not interconnected.
Wordpress sites _are_ to a degree a federated protocol beyond hypertext: https://make.wordpress.org/support/user-manual/building-your...