As your lone resident critical thinker, at least the government's authority is derived from the people. The power of corporations and the profit motive ensure they are opposed to all human interests beyond greed.
The government's authority used to be derived from the people. The people who developed the republic never could have imagined the immense bureaucratic superstate that exists and overrides the will of the people and often the will of the elected officials.
If it was the will of the people laws that the people want would pass. Like legalizing weed. It's mostly the will of the corporations because they fund the politicians. There is basically zero correlation between what the people want and whether a law is passed but a very high correlation between what the corporations want and what laws are passed.
For example, vaccine corporations having zero liability for injuries. Take a popular vote and see if that would pass.
They also never imagined the national and global problems an immense bureaucratic superstate could address.
The "will of the people" made sense when there was like 2.5 million people, most of which were opposed to British monarchy. It makes less sense with 330 million people in a modern context. There is no one will of the people.
I live in a cage
This is how birbs existence got mainstream
Lol, most people don't "just trust the government".. But the thing is, simply hoping that government will just disappear will not in fact make it disappear.. And simply voting for the Libertarian party will also not make it disappear either.
What we can somewhat influence though is who has the most control/influence over the government. And I would rather have us, the people, having influence over government than just leaving corporations to do whatever they want with it while we pay their bills..
It's a skill that some people apparently don't have. Most are born with it, but too often don't even try to use it. Especially against their own views.
