Part of being a citizen in any society is participating in your community. This doesn’t mean you have to attend daily meetings or volunteer for the neighborhood watch, but isolating yourself entirely is never a smart option. Let’s say something goes wrong and you need someone in the local government to fix it? If you haven’t participated before, it’s hard to have your voice heard, especially when all the more active citizens are ahead of you in line with their concerns.
That being said, you can also be a model member of society, and governments big and small won’t hear your pleas because… well, that’s what governments do. They tend to ignore folks and do whatever they’re going to do, despite the wishes and demands of those that elected them into their jobs in the first place. It’s frustrating beyond imagination, and sometimes, the only thing to do when a problem arises is to fix it yourself.