An argument for massive centralized power. Wow.
It is a perspective on reality, not on what 'we would like'. Certain types of structures have inevitable end states, whether you like it or not. The argument, such as it is (and it is not my argument) is that a democratic republic will inevitable fall into and even require a powerful central government, since the hierarchical chain of aristocratic offices is gone. Incidentally I do think there is a strong argument for massive centralized power,
within certain strict bounds. Those bounds are grossly exceeded right now, and it is obvious why: because powerful people see themselves as having no vested interest in neutralizing the limits of their own power.
That's why we're supposed to be a republic, so we don't have to govern 300 million people. The federal government was designed to be relatively weak with power residing in the states.
I think there was massive dissention about this even at the time of the founding, and I also think it was inevitable that governing 300 million people (i.e. the entire populace, regardless of the number) was always going to be the endgame. Maybe a different type of governmental structure, like a Chomsky anarcho-syndicalist system could have led to an entirely different beast, but as things were power was always going to be consolidated, for many reasons.
And even if there was any chance of maintaining states as being the primary government, any chance of that working would be wiped out as soon as the U.S. had a permanent standing army that was frequently at war. In a wartime mentality the power will always become central as an 'emergency' measure, and it will never be walked back after the war, because war never ends (or so the strategy goes). Forestalling such centralization could only be a temporary measure at best, and at worst the lack of *properly* centralizing it before it became inevitable meant that whoever did seize that power could structure it however they wanted. I actually do think the military aspect, along with military budgeting, is one reason why the central power structure was always going to dominate over the individual states.