Are you saying the government does not do &quot;vigorous enforcement of drug laws, long punishments for criminals&quot;? These are topics that are the source of perennial complaints on HN. I think rayiner&#x27;s point is that outside the HN echo chamber, there is a lot of implicit support for all kinds of empowerment of government and law enforcement agencies to &quot;keep people in line&quot;. These same people may possibly even condone surveillance if it helps catch some small fry drug dealers.<p>I see the same thing when it comes to TSA threads. I know people who actually want the TSA around, and when stories of TSA ineffectiveness come out, their reaction is not &quot;security theatre!&quot;, it&#x27;s &quot;fund them more!&quot;<p>The point is, the government is literally doing what most of the populace wants it to do. The opinions on HN are in the minority.