Part 8/12:
The conversation turns to concerns over urban decay and societal collapse, especially in American cities like San Francisco, Chicago, and others. Vijay draws stark parallels between the current decline and the fall of the Roman Empire, blaming deep institutional decay and federal overreach for the deterioration.
He suggests that centralized power, especially in the U.S., has become unaccountable and overly dominant, eroding local autonomy and fostering polarization. The push towards secession or city-state autonomy, he argues, is a natural response to over-centralized governments that are slow to reform and increasingly disconnected from local needs.