Here's my suggestion for a replacement: Franchises. Each city is a Franchise. If successful, other cities can Subscribe to this Franchise by following its Charter. Geographic proximity is not relevant. Alliances can mutate and change as needed. Organically. With success rewarded with more subs.
All of our political problems are based on one fundamental truth no one wants to address: the state is a failed model of government. The only legitimate government is the city. That's why it's called Civilization.
And yes, this is the MLM scam of politics. But with an underlying social-democratic process behind it all. And it's pretty clear, we all want to be scammed by something. It's just about choosing the right thing to lie to us. For the benefit of all. Don't trust any zero sum franchises.
