One data point in favor of your theory is that local elections and laws - sometimes down to the city level - are now national news stories. It never used to be

One data point in favor of your theory is that local elections and laws - sometimes down to the city level - are now national news stories. It never used to be like this, and now we’re in a situation where resentment builds for people you’ve never met, live 1000 miles away, that you’d have no idea even existed before all this. Some my say this is a good thing, but I flatly disagree.