In the old days, it was like the European type kehilla where I now live – one kehilla, the rov leading with non-frum support, a few of the more frum types feeling more comfortable among themselves in a corner of the shul but still very much a part of the community and looked up to rather than down upon, a few free-thinkers leaving altogether but still coming back to visit – one set of rules based on Torah – but out of shul you do what you want.
In EY it is the baryonim and sicarii running the show, a few frum politicians ranging from ehrlich to farkoift there for window-dressing, and if you’re frum it’s Dros Kol Dos for you.
Therefore, the kanoim are strengthened because they need to fight back – they don’t do it right and end up causing more machloikes. Those who want to bring up the standards end up trying to keep afloat in the mud and instead sink themselves (the failure of religious Zionism, the nauseating sight of seeing a Lubavitcher lighting the torch against the Rebbe’s clearly stated past wishes and saying something assinine on top of that, the Shas corruption scandals etc).
Olam hafuch ani roeh. I’d prefer Moshiach to make things right, but if there is an interim step in which the UN forces the medine into a corner, I am prepared to volunteer to help the refugees.