[Paperweight]

Rural counties are conservative, urban counties are liberal, and never the twain shall meet.

I posit that there will always be this conflict until cities have a blue federation superimposed on a red countryside. But the constitution isn't set up that way. Maybe next time.

[eropple]

This can also be reformulated as "rural counties are empty" and point to a lot of the agita around much of the current political climate, 'cause land having as much of a vote as it does is pretty odd.

[zeveb]

I think we need to reverse the unconstitutional Reynolds v. Sims decision which forbids the states from being set up like the federal government, with one house elected in proportion to population and one house elected geographically. The decision itself was rooted in little more than pipe dreams and moonshine, and the results are, I think, responsible for more than a little of our current dysfunction (another huge problem is the weakening of the parties themselves — they used to serve as a moderating layer, but no longer do).

[rayiner]

The political disagreements within states are a lot less intense than the political disagreements between states. Maryland is a solidly blue state at the federal level. But we have a Republican governor with a 78% approval rating who won a third of Black voters against a Black candidate in 2018.