Having lived in an unincorporated area in TX before, it really is up to the locals. When you're that far out, no government services of any kind. Not enough people to incorporate. No police, sheriffs miles away, no one on a payroll.
Fortunately, where I was, it really was a volunteer fire department who made due and didn't ask a dime from the citizens. Using very old equipment, but it worked. That was handled through, literally, bake sales and auctions and the charity of the older residents who saw it as their duty. There was a network of guys who kept in touch and were available night and day, for any kind of emergency. No questions asked, not religious or anything.
They were providing the services free. Or at least, that was the case a decade ago, in a vaguely Christian way. Went down there some time back, and those people had been swept away and the control of things given to more zealous politicos. Don't know what happened then, but I have my suspicions.
Major rural landowners are able to take advantage, if inclined, of the misfortunes of the less wealthy. Unless one is married into one of those families, is in the same church or political group, or works for them, they're shut out of everything. It's the patrician model.
Part of the situation was long-term rural unemployment was due to various kinds of businesses closing down and changing demographics. The young went to town and didn't want to deal with the risky life of farming and ranching and no modern conveniences. Really, the old folks loved nature very much and were as thrilled as kids when some animals were born or a crop came in. They had a mythology that gave them great satisfaction.
Last time, I did see a piecemeal type of revitalization due to Obama's alternative energy stimulus which was embraced, without giving him or the environmental crowd any credit, though. It was giving the working people still left employment fabricating, hauling and setting up wind towers for generating electricity. That gave some of the big spreads a chance to be off the grid, more self-sufficient and able to weather losses better. Others were being gifted with high-speed internet service from the local phone company.
But whether that will convert into votes for Obama and Democrats, I don't know. The mental landscape changed when Shrub became Governor and Rush ruled the local airways.
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