Oh we had fairly independent states, too, before Merkel.

Over the years that independence got eroded de facto. She even undid an election for state governor because she didn't like that he got elected with the votes from the wrong party; not even because he was in a party she didn't like but because that party merely voted for him.

Recently that independence also got scrapped de jure, so Merkel could force states to adopt her draconian Wu Flu lockdowns and curfews.

When the whole country is gleichgeschaltet everything just falls into place. Even Germany has some political outliers but as a party friend of Merkel recently said: the people not already on our side are lost, who cares, we will go after their future generations as early as possible and fix that.

Yea, the US isn't quite there yet but unless something drastic happens, you're well on your way .