It's commonplace now to note the distinctions between the urban and the rural political cultures in America; but maybe the bigger point is that
the cities no longer belong to our countries at all.
Where the street once buzzed with English, spoken in a variety of accents, now you can go through an entire day without hearing English. From her small terraced house, she hears Pashto over one garden fence, Romanian over the other. In the nearby row of shops, the English-speaking Indian-owned mini-supermarkets have given way to Polish shops outside which young men gather every evening, speaking Polish.
Maybe you could have that international, global government in every city over a million in population; provided that no sovereignty was claimed over the surrounding countryside.
Interesting way to put it. Since Baker vs Carr, and Sims vs Reynolds, the cities effectively have total control over the states. The most important USSC decisions in my lifetime, by far. The results are exactly as foreseen by the left, and exactly in accordance with the new push to eliminate the electoral college, so it becomes a national control. Sooner or later, the USA is going to arms over this.
ReplyDeletePeople will say in response that it's ever been thus- the newest immigrants gathered in certain neighborhoods and spoke the old language and sold the things their culture wanted. I contend it's different now. Because you can also be fully immersed in the media of back home- so you don't watch the news in English, or the TV shows in English, and you're more connected to 'back home' with social media and instant communications with family and friends. You just aren't going to assimilate as quickly in that environment. I see it here in Los Angeles. I've been living in heavily immigrant communities my whole life, and it's different. I don't have the metrics to prove it, but I see it and I hear it.
ReplyDeleteDouglas: I believe my great-grandfather from Sweden wrote a letter back to his sisters at Christmas every year. The Sudanese refugees I know send money back and save up to go back as often as they can. They somewhat follow political events, but even more, they email and telephone relatives back home. They remain tied there. The children much less so, but I do wonder it it is slowing assimilation by a full generation.
ReplyDeleteDouglas...in addition to the faster communications with those back home...
ReplyDelete--cheap air travel enables frequent physical visits, and makes any decision to return much easier
--the destruction of societal self-confidence in America (and in other western countries) means that there is much less pull toward assimilation than there once was