And yet... even with that loss of Senate buffering (which old way had its own pitfalls and scandal) a principle remains. A state had a peculiar dignity of its own. It wasn’t just a quaintness to be observed on travel vacations... oh look! Kentucky! Oklahoma! Oregon! (or whatever).
This is being collectivized into a colorless mush.
No wonder country (and I believe, redneck) is a widely treasured thing. It fights the collectivization and insists on being incorrigibly local.
I agree. And the closer one gets to a large population center, the less so.