Especially during the current (2025) iteration of the US government. All sides of the political spectrum will be accusing the program of having political bias against each other.

> All sides of the political spectrum will be accusing the program of having political bias against each other.

That's pretty much the optimal state of the current iteration of democracy, isn't it? I'd feel more scared if everyone agreed to it and there was no complaints, then something is guaranteed to be fucky-wucky for the normal person, but without knowing about it. At least if both sides complain about the other, it's relatively impartial.

> Yep, move it into an independent non-profit foundation and have the government fund its development through taxes as a public good software that benefits everyone. The idea makes sense, which is why it'll never happen.

Or turn it into a tightly regulated natural monopoly, a la a public utility.

But I totally agree with you: some things should just be state-owned. We should put our energies into identifying those things and addressing any legitimate concerns (e.g. spying via requiring open source and reproducible builds) instead of trying to free market all the things.