This kind of thinking can be misleading. Baudrillard made the interesting cold war observation that while the US and the Soviet Union might have seemed superfic

This kind of thinking can be misleading. Baudrillard made the interesting cold war observation that while the US and the Soviet Union might have seemed superficially like alternatives, they were both part of a meta-stable, static system of nuclear deterrence. In the US struggles between either party might seem fantastic to members of both parties, but anyone outside that Overton window, often people with widely diverse views, dread nothing more. Another way of putting it is that sophisticated systems of control always incorporate their own opposition, which actually provides stability. Lone empires tend to topple over. Taking California as an example, not despite but because of its dominant culture it is more dynamic. Even its real opposition, which is forced to act outside of the system is more interesting, subversive, radical than what you'd find in a 'balanced' state.