The problem is they usually care about these things from a partisan lens. Republicans or Democrats criticize power in the others but then want to employ the same authoritarian tactics when it benefits them. This also happens in other countries with different parties, and the public at large is the one that loses, usually participating in the tribalism and supporting different levels of authoritarianism with whatever the latest "threat" excuse is in vogue. Just like we're now seeing the "we absolutely need digital IDs to access the Internet to protect children".