I suppose, but it is the threat of the guns backing them up that makes the bureaucracy all-powerful. I am not really worried about this going on all that long. When nobody has nothing the federal government is going to fall apart. It has to be the biggest government that has ever existed, and we are going to see just how big it can get before it collapses under its own weight.
People have lots and lots of pressure points. The manufactured chaos that BO is fomenting, just makes things worse. People with fewer options become more pliable - for instance, that HR wonk collecting data on you wants to keep her job, so she does what she's told. You need to pay your mortgage, so you do as she asks, and so on. In a roaring economy (think 1999) you'd tell a nosy employer to "go fish". Now? Not as likely, I think.
When nobody has nothing the federal government is going to fall apart ...yep, the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money to spend.
big it can get before it collapses under its own weight ....yep. Collapse would be unimaginably bad, I think, all apocalyptic fantasies aside. I wonder if this country has the guts to put together the austerity program that's needed.