I learned the term Balkinization from Traveller.
It was never presented as a positive for a world to have a balkinized government.
Looking at the self same Balkans that lend their name to the term... I can see why. It does not bespoke stability.
I've a synonym for balkinized: diversity.
The US sure seems to be on the road to balkinization from where I sit.
Mostly it seems because every culture under the sun is deferred to in preference to our DIY from imported and unmatching parts culture we used to have.
There's no fire under the crucible any more and thus the pot doesn't melt.
This also keeps the slag from being separated and discarded.
What we're fast on the road to becoming is pre-fragmented. Pre-divided before someone comes along to conquer.
The other metaphor for what's happening in the US is the salad bowl, which is the opposite of the Melting Pot.
ReplyDeleteI don't foresee the US ever having anything but a divided populace in the future; the best we can hope for is divided government and gridlock, rather than a series of pendulum changes in which first the Left, then the Right is in charge, and every president comes in and immediately reverses his predecessor's executive actions. Better to separate peacefully than to do so in a second civil war.