The article brings up the UK's GDS, but it operates in a completely different political environment, where the words "big government" don't have the same menaci

The article brings up the UK's GDS, but it operates in a completely different political environment, where the words "big government" don't have the same menacing undertones they do in the US. The federalist system, combined with a dislike of government spending, renders US government efforts to simplify their citizens online interactions essentially fruitless. Take applying for driving tests, for example: in the UK, there's one central body that administers them, so one website can cater to all comers (and it's not massively difficult to roll out country-wide changes). The US has 51 different state-run DMVs, each with their own regulations and application processes. The amount of money it would take to centralise that system is enormous, to say nothing of the political wrangling it would take to wrest control of even a small portion of the process from the states.