30 mL of simple syrup isn't 15 mL of water and 15 mL of raw sugar; if you mix those two, the resulting solution will be less than 30 mL. When sugar is disolved in water, the solution density goes up.
Watch your input and output volumes next time you batch simple syrup and you'll see the output volume diverges significantly.
USA states have their own: police force, congress, judiciary, laws, taxes, constitutions, and so on. So I'm not sure what you mean by comparing the City of London to USA states - it isn't really meeting your criteria aside from not having a standing military which is also true for some countries/states outside of the USA.
30 mL of simple syrup isn't 15 mL of water and 15 mL of raw sugar; if you mix those two, the resulting solution will be less than 30 mL. When sugar is disolved in water, the solution density goes up. Watch your input and output volumes next time you batch simple syrup and you'll see the output volume diverges significantly.