Your city analogy exposes the defects of this argument. As noted, federation does not prevent centralization. And there is no reason to fight against centraliza

Your city analogy exposes the defects of this argument. As noted, federation does not prevent centralization. And there is no reason to fight against centralization. It's ok for NYC to contain 1/2 the population of the state. What your argument seems to gloss over is that in _only_ contains 1/2. Nobody is forced to live there. They can go upstate, or to any other part of the state. People who want to can live in NYC and still be part of the entire state, enjoying all the benefits. People can live in the state capital, or Buffalo, or the best part of New York: Stamford. Ok, even if that wasn't funny, it illustrates that the biggest centers of federated systems interact perfectly with smaller centers. You don't have to be part of New York to be part of the federation. And if the NYC hub walls itself off and demands tolls to interact? So be it. Let the market bear what it will.