Sure, cities need US...but US needs cities, too

Our focus on this board is often about how our US cities stack up when compared to each other and some sort of a preceived pecking order within the United States. But haven't a number of our greatest cities already transended the United States and look to the world to determine the type of future they will have? Is it time to put some thoughts of the US to rest and to see how are cities are fitting in globally rather than nationally? We spend so much time here talking about how cities fit here in the US without realizing that a number of our cities are finding American issues less relevant, their concerns about how Americans feel abot them lessening, and see themselves as free agents in the world, their ties to the US not being the key issue. Our paradigm seems so set on what the US thinks of how it needs its major cities rather than the equally important (in this global era) of how our great cities think about the United States and how essential they are to the nation. Is it time to stop thinking about how our cities come neatly placed in a package called the United States and to realize the babies may be leaving the nest and viewing their relationships with the rest of the world that are not dependent on their being American cities?>