> there are several reasonable proposals that would be 90%+ successful without stepping on anyone's toes.

I have a feeling my definition of having my toes stepped on differs dramatically from yours.

> i am convinced that enough people in power know it, too, but see this as their chance to get the full-dystopia version rolled out.

Well there's plenty of idiots in power and I'm sure they have no idea. But there absolutely are evil ones who simply want more power and don't care what happens after they have it.

If this were actually about protecting children, maybe you could get something passed that wasn't just ground work for a panopticon hellscape. But it's not about children at all - the people truly worried about that are just useful idiots - it's about power, and so you can't pass anything without having the surveillance infrastructure forced in.