As an American I don't have a say in this, nor any direct personal concerns about it one way or the other. It is a curious situation to compare, say, Hawaii to Maine. Hawaii is an Island paradise (except Honolulu) with a tropical climate, plenty of brown-skinned Hawaiians and Asians, and a relaxed culture. Maine is a wilderness (except Portland) of untamed forest, with a nasty climate 10 months of the year, an almost entirely caucasian population, and a work ethic based on "if you don't work now while it's warm, you'll freeze to death this winter."

On the other hand, both states have McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Bank of America, Chevrolet/Toyota SUVs, similar tax systems, similar attitudes towards politics, and everybody watches the same TV programs and pays the same interest rate for loans.

We're heterogeneous in some ways, and homogeneous in others. We pretty much all speak the same language, we use the same money, we vote in the same national elections. We can move freely from one state or another, but I bet that 99% of Mainiacs would not even consider moving to Hawaii, nor 99% of Hawaiians to Maine.

So in our federal system there is still a big contrast between states, and freedom of movement, but that movement has already pretty much taken place. (Exception: A general slow migration towards the southwest.)

What would it take to get France and Turkey "equalized" in such a fashion?