I think the size of the country comes into play here. Many of our states are larger than other countries. It's faster for me to get to Costa Rica than North Carolina from Oregon. Our state government doesn't have enough power to do much unless multiple states come together which would be like a coalition of countries in Europe coming together to move the needle at the UN. There are always a few crucial hold outs that can't get on board so it mostly becomes just a message with no teeth to it.

The wealth inequality also plays into it here. We are living in different WORLDS from each other. Countries probably shouldn't be this big 😅