In Southern California, for instance, where defense spending has been such a huge part of the local economy, people have a real interest in national and international affairs. It was no accident that Southern California conservatism was first and foremost based on a national defense agenda, whereas conservatism historically had a very different basis. And by the way, the same sort of regional rivalry is happening in Europe, for instance between Barcelona and Madrid or Seville in Spain. Or the fight between the various prefectures in Japan or the various regions of China. These conflicts are in many ways much more real to people than are international conflicts.
Tribes tend to concentrate in major cities.
It's Manchester, it's London, Vancouver. And of course, Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta, Sidney. And in many cases these regional centers compete against national elites who are redistributing money and profits to more rural regions, which often have more political power. One of the great oddities of America is that the federal government, which is disliked most in the rural and less developed states, works very much in the interests of those same states. Politically, demographic change in this country has caused a largely negative reaction.