2025: That Patchwork In Review

Another year, another skeptical eye turned toward centralized power. First off, I want to thank the thousands of you for reading. It’s cool to know that you’ve decided to stick around. When I started That Patchwork back in 2020, I set out to draw attention to both the risks posed by the consolidation of power at the federal level and the expectations we place on it. I also sought to underscore that states and localities have mature institutions that can be relied on as avenues for reconciling more of our differences—differences we shouldn’t interpret as existential or incompatible with core national goals. Much of the political-media industry is heavily invested in national narratives, national identity, national policy, and national implications—needlessly, in my opinion. Those stakes are creating an enormous amount of stress in the culture. An insistence on unity, the universalization of policy, and the misattribution of economic influence to the presidency are all deeply entrenched in our discourse and political reporting. There are few of us poking the bear and speaking up to question the wisdom of nationalization—the premise that progress and defending democracy means outsourcing more disputes to the national level. I appear to be the only writer I’ve seen committing to this with any regularity, but I welcome others to join me—or to introduce themselves. If you agree someone should be capturing this badly overlooked angle, consider a paid subscription. If you are part of an institution who may want to sponsor my work, reach out! With your help, I can commit more bandwidth to this work. Subscribe now This year I wrote about Trump’s disaster federalism (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/trumps-disaster-federalism) and revisited the idea of tearing down the presidents (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/tear-down-the-presidents-2cf). I wrote about the kayfabe fakery (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/a-break-from-pro-wrestling-economics) that exaggerates the president’s role over economics, how decades of law enforcement federalization (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/the-feds-dont-knock-anymore) paved the way for the arrest of a local judge, and how states are exploiting Medicaid (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/medicaid-is-broken-because-it-pays). I wrote about finding fault in government during disasters (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/water-moves-faster-than-blame-0dc), and the rise of far-center technocrats (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/the-rise-of-the-far-center) fixing to centralize more power in the name of pragmatism. I explored whether federalism failed (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/did-federalism-or-the-feds-fail-new) 20 years after Hurricane Katrina, how Charlie Kirk’s assassination says more about the risks of nationalization than the volume of the discourse (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/can-democrats-expand-their-tent-on-c36). I also wrote about how progressive vibes and moderate policies (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/in-big-cities-this-year-moderation) won in big cities this year and how artificial intelligence should prompt us to create more legal patchworks (https://thatpatchwork.com/p/the-us-needs-more-legal-patchworks) — just to name a few. Below though are some highlights from this year. Decentralization doesn’t necessarily imply small government or large government. And while there are certainly different flavors of federalism, decentralization is, above all, about deference and about the critical role the central government ought to play in facilitating, not subsuming, that system of deference. Traditionally, advocating for states’ rights and local control has carried, and still carries to some extent, the baggage of racists who used “states’ rights” as a pretext to disenfranchise Americans. But if centralists can learn from the perils of centralization while still advocating reforms within centralized systems, decentralists can do the same. And for those of us on the left who still prize a healthy skepticism of central authority, there’s plenty of room—now and going forward—in the decentralization camp. In the next year, I’m looking forward to tackling more ideas and issues, as well as doing a bit of electoral work as the 2026 campaign gets underway. Until then, have a great holiday—and thank you again for reading! -Robert Subscribe now Share