we're returning to a high trust society out of necessity because of economic forces that incentivize information asymmetry.
It's pointless to steal someone's car in a town of 30 families. everyone would know exactly where it went. You also know exactly who you are doing harm to so your sense of sympathy kicks in making you less likely to do it.
These tight knit low population towns seem to naturally create a high-trust honor culture. Small towns have a higher level of social integration so wronging someone creates repercussions that flow back to the perpetrator through every one of their social bonds.
Some places are higher trust than others but the developed world is based exclusively on a high level of trust. An actual low trust society is so starkly different from what most of us on HN are used: it practically enforces a feudal, subsistence farming society.
Living in the US, I don't remember the last time I had to show my receipt at the fast food counter or show any sort of identification when picking up food that I had paid for online. I've never once paid for a major/emergency medical operation or auto repair ahead of time. Hell, I left the dealership with my last car a full week before they received the check from my bank (in the Seattle area, so definitely not a small town). I don't think anyone has ever really verified my income or finances beyond a cursory credit check and some PDF that could be easily faked by anyone with a little computer literacy. Most mortgages are paid back over thirty years! In my old country, most people don't fully trust that the currency will even last that long.
The systems reinforcing social behavior in larger groups are more complicated and easier to game, but they are definitely still part of a system based on high levels of trust.
People only pay attention when things are happening at a scale they consider worthy of their attention. The reason corruption is less common at the higher levels is that people are focused on higher level officials; meanwhile, the fact that their local officials are breaking this rule or that rule goes unnoticed, unreported, or worse, happens with everyone's full knowledge and just gets shrugged off.
Also you mention a county tax collector. I wouldn't consider that a tight knit small town. I think there is a lot more corruption at a county level than a small town (from what I've seen).
I sort of get your point about more eyes watching someone the higher they go. Some of it is also the position of those watchers and their opportunities. In many small towns, people know a pot about you and you have plenty of nosy (for lack of a better term) neighbors. Arguably, they make for better watchers.
I would be interested to learn more about this. I have also live in multiple states and this doesn't sound like any of them. Municipalities always have some form of one of the following: mayors, councils, school boards, constables/police, magistrates, etc.
"Is there a reason to view things differently?"
Yeah. I see way more corruption at the county level than the local level. Most of the circumstances and scenarios I laid out in previous comments would not apply to county level officials, nor even to large municipalities. I was strictly speaking about small towns. The most important part is how information is gathered and spread. Small towns are notorious for information being found out and spreading rapidly. That oversight would not be the same in other settings. These mechanisms don't exist at the county level. They are far enough removed from their constituents that they can operate without the same watchful eyes.
Everyone from a small town has a tale of “that family of thieves” who you know to watch when they come in your store. Sometimes they are legit thieves, sometimes it’s just bias.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/09/14/americans-vi...
Clearly we are entering a time of Low Trust Society, and the institutions have only themselves to blame as they have abused the populations trust for decades only now with free flow of information are regular people able to directly see the abuse that has existed for a very very long time.
We used to have a High Trust society, not because the people in power were trust worthy but because the people in power directly controlled the information.
This is no longer the case, and as that power is shifting we are now seeing the people that control information today looking for ways to retain that control and instead of allowing it to flow freely inject their own filters into the streams.