People don't have to work. This is the assumption the entire house of cards is built on. Those at the top need you to work so they realistically don't have to.
Inucune
Do you one better: eating lunch at the restaurant run by immigrants.
"everything we gave up for you, and you still act ungrateful."
Ay, let's do a bank run. Get your coffee cans ready.
I thought it was whalefall.
So how does one person, not born into the starting conditions that make gaining this level of power easy, gain sufficient power to prevent or deter use of power against them?
Take the job, fail upwards.
A reminder that assuming a government speaks and represents it's people is a major falacy. Our government is shit, and our media loves punching down by showing the worst people and attaching "you" or "US" to the headline.
But most people are reasonable and willing to help where they can.
A reminder that anyone can place rocks or debris in roads or pathways.
A reminder this was during a time period we all collectively agreed to ignore Arnold's accent for narrative purposes.
Bravo, training and procedures got everyone to safety.
If a human employee makes a mistake, I can find out why, and correct the process used by the employee.
If an AI makes a mistake, I (currently) cannot see how it came to the result, nor can I correct it to not take that action again.