Living in a community of like-minded people is incredibly important. I was raised in a rural part of Northern California, many years ago now. People in large part were traditional Christians. They pretty much Policed themselves, and our Fire services were volunteer. If the City Police or the Sheriff were involved in something it was a HUGE deal. This, I think, is how it should be. A society in alignment with itself. Today, there is next to zero cohesion at the community level (Diversity is Our Strength...), and it seems as if most people are just absolute yayhoos.
We’ve become Balkanized.