Most modern democracies are finely balanced systems of how to organize power in ways many could potentially profit from it. Now that doesn't always work as int

Most modern democracies are finely balanced systems of how to organize power in ways many could potentially profit from it. Now that doesn't always work as intended, but if we are unhappy with a particular government we can usually vote them out without a bloody revolution, which has some value in itself. Throughout history there always has been a number — the fraction of the population you need behind you in order to stay in power, or vice versa how big of a populations will you can go against. Certain social practises and technologies can lower that number. Surveillance is one of them unless we are also surveilling our betters, but the trend is that politicians and corporations are becoming more and more intransparent while the little people are more and more transparent. Many AI driven surveillance also suck at detecting relatively rare occurances like terrorism, but they are really good at detecting demonstrations and helping you to identify the participants after.