It was not until 1990 or thereabouts that I realized the people of the state were functioning as an organic whole, a giant mainframe computer. Each one of us has in his or her head a little computer, each one programmed differently. The buzzing conversation between the voters calculates all the political and economic ramifications of an issue as enormously important as Prop 13, with those having the most reliable information canceling those with less reliable information. Everyone's vote counts as much as all others, in part reflecting a pure assessment of how the vote will effect him or her. The impact of the vote on the community at large makes up the other part.
People take into account the interests of the whole as well as their personal interest.
Civilization progresses in a political dimension through the ability of politicians to read the desires of the electorate. Their influence instead bears on the politicians, who look to opinion leaders for help in ascertaining the wishes of the electorate. The decline of a nation state or political unit is a sign of repeated failure of the political class to read the wishes of the electorate. Emigration is a sure sign of relative political failure. At the extreme, the electorate resorts to revolution, thereby adjusting the political framework and raising to power a new political class better able to read the desires of the electorate.