Originally Posted by
SeriouslyLost
As in "without having to take any driving tests but still supply the paperwork" swap. Not "just swap it for you". Some states will swap. Other won't. 7 seconds on google came up with
this.
The US is balkanized IMO: it is broken into unnecessarily small parts that frequently operate different rules for the same things, mostly with no benefit and only increased cost and inefficiency. 200+ years ago it might have made sense to arrange the country the way it is, but these days? It's simply part of the problem, along with the political system the US has.[1]
1. Implicate in the last part is the assumption that "the people" are the ones that should be served by government, not the other way around or where govt functions as an arm of commerce. If you don't like that assumption then obviously YMMV.
I disagree with the term "balkanization". The term refers to an entity which breaks up into smaller entities at odds with each other.
The opposite is true of the U.S. It is made up of a bunch of smaller entities which voluntarily surrendered partial sovereignty and joined together for the good of the whole, without giving up identity or control of "local" issues.
The United States is a vast country with diverse population groups, climactic zones, industries, needs, and lifestyles. A rancher in rural New Mexico would feel little affinity with a Bostonian, yet both share their loyalty to the nation despite their differences. Many traffic laws in San Francisco likely make no sense whatsoever to a person living in Orlando.
This is NOT balkanization by any stretch of the imagination. If you cannot understand this, then your understanding of the United States is very limited.
BTW: Do you consider Canada "balkanized"? Canada after all has two official languages with one group of Canadians primarily speaking one of them and another group speaking the other, and many having very limited ability in the second language. And one province which periodically threatens to leave the confederation.
On the one hand, the federal government controls a lot of Canadian life, and on the other, the provinces regulate things to suit the particular needs of their populations.
Whether or not you personally believe that a federal system works well or not, "balkanization" is not the appropriate term to use.