Withdrawal means sticking our heads in the sand for a dubious principle. Decentralization does have a certain appeal, especially to populists. We dislike feeling that our destiny is out of our control. Yet, in a globalized era, we cannot afford these luxuries. Capital is mobile, and the forces of governance must respond in kind.
Markets are powerful - for good and for ill.
The communitarian vision denies any institution that could harness their power for society. Another paradigm in this election combines isolationism and community, ducking rather than engaging contemporary capitalism. Compassionate conservatism deludes that a generous dollop of virtue will obscure the deconstruction of society as an integral whole. It celebrates community without asking hard questions about equality. Greenery, enamored of cooperation and wary of dissatisfaction and disillusion, also forgets that individual freedom needs collective solidarity.