most of them weren't contested and the ones that were contested were draungunken brawls. jefferson was familiar with this. he said what we need are towns so the fathers can get together. and on top of the towns, the counties. and then we go to a higher level, to the states. and then to the union, the federal union. here's the key idea here. i'm going to throw this back at you. equality is crucial. we talked about before you can't have consent without equality. >> you cannot have coercion or it's not a union. >> every level of union whether it be on the town level the union of families or the county level, the union of towns those unions exist to preserve and perpetuate the equality of their constituent units. do you follow me? that's pretty straightforward. in other words the legitimacy, the value of the union of the town is that all families will be treated equally and have an equal voice in their own government. and you move up the ladder. that imperative remains and that is union depends on preserving equality of constituent units because otherwise some are benefiting