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> The problem is you’re optimizing for bureaucratic efficiency over the needs of the people.

There's a reason there are 50 states and not just one federal land. The needs of the people of Montana are definitely different than the needs of New Yorkers, so expecting the two states to have the same laws is just illogical. It's also why things like the electoral college is a thing to prevent the population centers dictating what the rural people have to do.

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The electoral college was created because citizens couldn’t reliably be expected to travel to vote. That time has long since passed, since voting stations are generally (modulo places that are actively shuttering them to disenfranchise people) scattered around enough that it’s not arduous.

Plenty of other countries with rural areas seem to do fine without one. They also usually have much better / more granular representation, instead of a hard cap of 435 for a population that is orders of magnitude larger than at the country’s founding.

Sort of, the states are nominally sovereign.

That’s why the more reactionary elements in our society have placed such a priority on making the federal government ineffective.

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