Also, they had mayors and stuff, a VERY clear class division and were technically under the rule of Gondor after the Northern Kingdom fell but Gondor didn't really have the resources or urge to do any ruling over there. Once Aragorn was in they were essentially an autonomous zone under military protection in exchange for maintaining the local roads and bridges.
Hobbits can better resist the One Ring because they operate within a greater evil.
Tom Bombadil is the grillpilled wife guy and is therefore unaffected by the the threat of Sauron, the temptation of the ring, or the plight of the Fellowship.
And his boots are yellow
Touching so much grass you attain godhood
They ALWAYS fucking erase Bombadil. Not in even a single screen adaption. The movies even inserted a bunch of junk about Radagast, and Aaragorn's love affair, negating the common notion that it was "because they were already too long". SMH.
Who would fear someone like Sauron after witnessing American Empire.