You're right that the US is not in the same universe as the Stasi was.

The US steals more data and conducts more illicit monitoring of people in a day than the Stasi ever could in a year. Its just that the Stasi lived in an analog world, so you had lots of PHYSICAL material leftover for people to point at in faux horror.

Even now, the US is busily deploying electric shock gloves whose main selling point, DIRECT FROM THE MOUTHS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT, is that they allow pain to be administered to enforce "compliance", without leaving any real evidence.

And they are being trialed in Nebraska. On ... SCHOOL CHILDREN.

(and to complete the dystopian joke, check out the name of the company selling these Dr Doom gloves)

Whats that you hear? Howls of outrage & dissaproval from the denizens of "The Land of the Free" (tm)?

Err, no. Its just the wind blowing leaves around.

You sir are the proverbial frog who has been in the pan so long, he doesn't realise he's being boiled alive