I would say most people are concerned with dragnets, not targeted attacks. There's quite a lot you can hide from the government in terms of dragnets, in the same way you'd hide from big tech.
"Hide" isn't the right word. "Defend from" I think is probably better. Defending our constitutional rights from government and defending our privacy from big tech.
I'm actually perfectly okay with governments in targeted attacks (where a warrant is reasonably given). I'm just not okay with police being lazy.
How does mailing them your money help against a dragnet? How does a VPN help against a dragnet? Like the government can spy on (and somehow SSL MITM) your home ISP but not spy on your VPN ISP?
Then mail them your money
I think most people are considering less serious threat models