We already have "A centrally-controlled, government-sanctioned/mandated fork of the protocol". It's called the federal reserve system and it is very networked,

We already have "A centrally-controlled, government-sanctioned/mandated fork of the protocol". It's called the federal reserve system and it is very networked, efficient, etc. and has almost none of the features of bitcoin because it doesn't need them. All the features of bitcoin are there so it isn't possible for any one entity to centrally control it. It would be ridiculous for a fork to be created that would be centrally controlled. It would be like saying someone should fork open office and turn it into a submarine control system.