This is absolutely false. Governments throughout the world can have extreme levels of control over certain aspects of life while being powerless in other, due in no small part to the willingness of people to accept this control, culturally and politically.
Germans are big on effective bureaucracy and a social safety net that works, yet they're some of the biggest sceptics in privacy, to the point where most people use cash for most transactions.
Americans have a complete unwillingness for a unified ID to the point where all states have to improvise with drivers' licenses and other forms of ID which are not uniform and imperfect next to most other countries' ID cards. Again it's a cultural issue.
Even though most of the state's power comes through the form of silent bureaucracies, people's willingness to accept that power always factors in. If people care enough, the state just can't push on with certain things.
This is absolutely false. Governments throughout the world can have extreme levels of control over certain aspects of life while being powerless in other, due in no small part to the willingness of people to accept this control, culturally and politically.
Germans are big on effective bureaucracy and a social safety net that works, yet they're some of the biggest sceptics in privacy, to the point where most people use cash for most transactions.
Americans have a complete unwillingness for a unified ID to the point where all states have to improvise with drivers' licenses and other forms of ID which are not uniform and imperfect next to most other countries' ID cards. Again it's a cultural issue.
Even though most of the state's power comes through the form of silent bureaucracies, people's willingness to accept that power always factors in. If people care enough, the state just can't push on with certain things.