I would still make more sense to set an example and control the behavior of people you are indirectly accountable for in a democracy. No matter how much of a joke that sounds in context of any agency able to survey almost all your communications.

And it does sound like a joke already. Maybe having a strong democracy would actually be a good defense against autocracies that behave like China.

Maybe stop security agencies posing a security threat in the med to long term because nobody really believes in democracy anymore.