That was always the wrong threat model hierarchy. I have always been more concerned what the federal, my state and my local government can do when given more power/informstion than the federal government

Good. Being OK with authoritarianism because they are on your side is never good.

Volunteer? I mean they do get paid.

The thing is it's a mix of both.

You have the fervent that love recording everything "for the good of the people". But then you'll just have piles of people with separation of duties that do things with very little understanding of where they fit in the process and very little care to.

We gave those brogrammers the keys to the machine when we made programming more accessible.