Why America’s Federalist Culture Matters

One of the many great things about America is that it is both big and diffuse. Yes, we are one nation. But we are proud of our particularities. Our system of government, at its best, reflects this. States and localities are not mere administrative units of the central government; they are centers of power in their own right. Our cultural diffusion is consistent with this.

My admiration for this aspect of America is one reason why, over the weekend, I lamented the possible decline of the Southern accent. Taking note of a study that found distinct Southern pronunciations are less potent in younger speakers than in older, I worried about the fading of American differentiation. A product of political and cultural centralization consistent with trends in the nation at large, this homogenization, if it continues unabated, would bode ill for our country’s federalist culture. “The way we talk, one of the most basic human functions, is an essential part of our individual identity, and the shared identities of those around us,” I wrote. “For that to go might herald an end to something all Americans share: our differences.”

A related phenomenon is how media coverage has increasingly converged on Washington, D.C., (and New York City). As I wrote earlier this week in the new publication American Habits, the growth of the national government and the hollowing out of local news have contributed to a news environment that is ever more Beltway-focused. “Many voters in a state probably pay more attention to national-level news (even when it affects them little), while developments that directly affect their own lives might only register if they blow up on a national scale.” As a consequence of this warped environment, D.C. has filled up with young reporters who lack any experience of politics beyond the inherently statist-biased glamor of Washington. Whereas someone like Robert Novak cut his teeth on local politics and found Beltway grandees (or wannabees) no more impressive than the local pols he started out covering, these inexperienced journalists become sucked into the Beltway mindset and often report on politics accordingly.

So is there anything we can do to preserve and, if necessary, restore America’s federalist culture? When it comes to accents, we should “accept, embrace, and come to love the varieties of American experience.” As for journalism, it is imperative to revive both local news and federalism as a political project. What we need, fundamentally, is “a recovery of the idea that local and state politics matter, period, and not just to the extent they affect or feed into what is national.” The glorious variety of our great nation demands nothing less.