The government's monopoly on legal violence delegated to police and military (which are starting to blur together)
+
ubiquitous spying capabilities only bounded by technology limits, finding clearance-passable bodies to wade through mountain ranges of data, keeping the lies plausibly deniable in front of Congress and containing waste of a sprawling bureacracy
+
modern, horrible pattern of exceptionalism: disregarding any sense of morality, decency and/or due-process
+
USG executive branch's de-facto dominant power position
=
I'd agree at least until a single corporation has a market cap > 100% USG FY budget and/or the USG runs out of credit. Both seem essentially inevitable. (beware when private edifices and "defensive" capabilities rival the state's)
+
ubiquitous spying capabilities only bounded by technology limits, finding clearance-passable bodies to wade through mountain ranges of data, keeping the lies plausibly deniable in front of Congress and containing waste of a sprawling bureacracy
+
modern, horrible pattern of exceptionalism: disregarding any sense of morality, decency and/or due-process
+
USG executive branch's de-facto dominant power position
=
I'd agree at least until a single corporation has a market cap > 100% USG FY budget and/or the USG runs out of credit. Both seem essentially inevitable. (beware when private edifices and "defensive" capabilities rival the state's)