I would actually suggest this is symptomatic of the real problem: money in politics.

Elected officials (and some appointed, like SCOTUS) keep changing laws and precedents to allow more and more money in politics. They can't quit all that dark money - without a lot of funding, you don't get elected. Usually the best funded candidate wins.

There was an anonymous oped from a congressman some years back which bemoaned the reality - that 60% of their time was dedicated to meeting with donors for reelection campaigns instead of working on real problems.

… and legalized bribes as lobbying.

It is also because corruption is called lobbying in America. Corporate lobbying should be illegal and punished severely (including capital punishment for directors and confiscation of the corporation).

Not that most other nations do dramatically better, alas.

People believe whatever authority tells them. It's one of those bug/feature things.

It’s not like “privacy first EU” didn’t just try to pass Chat Control