The bigger the government machine grows, the more it normalizes its activities to people like you. Most government work is compartmentalized so only a few people know what sinister shit is going down on purpose. It removes the burden of guilt and reduces whistleblowers. Just because your friends think they’re fighting the good fight and doing the right thing, they’re probably not and just don’t know it. How many people during vietnam, Korea, the Cold War, the gulf war, the war on terror thought they were doing good? The beast is in the system no matter what you think you’re doing.