Rights should not need to be re-asserted. They're rights.But nothing created or constructed by man (or woman) can be so perfect. The true test of a system is how it behaves when things go wrong. Does the system contain checks and balances to protect you against the mighty whether it be government or a corporate building a golf course? By the sounds of it, it worked OK for you. That's my point. Things went bad, then the system allowed you to prevail.
If you are arguing that government should be perfect then there's not much more to be said. If you are arguing that the system of checks and balances is being priced out of reach then IMHO you have a point. Do you have a solution that has a chance of being actioned?
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
