There is a persistent point that this article makes really well: numbers. And here, bigger seems to be worse. More people equals feebler interactions, worse social life, more alienation between citizens and government. It's not the full story, but this simple rule is a very solid first approximation that has worked fine for me. The relatively small country where I moved has an ok government. Personally, I've found that small towns work well for me, and I've chosen job and residence based on that principle. I wouldn't mind a countryside cabin for hunting-gathering with friends during weekends :-) .

At the same time, I like global shipping, the Internet, good highways, and I definitely hate tariffs. I don't think we need to be disconnected to be happy. We just need to make the right choices where it matters.