[sebcat]

> You see the same thing in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, etc.

For comparison, Sweden is about the size of California, with roughly one forth of its population.

> In the US, on average if you want to see a better form of political discourse, you have to move toward more local politics (whether state, county, city, town).

In my experience, local politics tends to be... More entertaining. Maybe because it's a lower barrier for entry.

> Sweden = local politics. It's a small nation. 25% of their population lives in just four cities.

The majority of its population lives outside of the largest four cities. There's a lot of difference between those four cities as well.