> On this I agree. The irony is that rural America, highly dependent on cars, has, imho and experience, radically stronger community than dense urban centers!

This isn't particularly true. There's been many writings on the 'loneliness epidemic' that hits the hardest in the rural parts of America, where people die of drug abuse or alcohol or health issues alone and ignored. The community effort fully coalesces around the religious experience, but sharply ends after Sunday for most people. It's been noted multiple times over that Americans generally trust eachother lower than ever, the amount of close friends has gone down and more.

This is before we get into the community dynamics of rural communities being very exclusive towards certain groups of people.