Choices play an important part in our life. If we are willing to protect our freedom then nobody has the power to enslave us whether its corporate of government.
The main problem lies when government servants who are enrolled or inducted to serve people start behaving like masters. They are being paid for their services for the people and government.
With our strong character and doing our moral duties we can check unnecessary advances from anyone as you have mentioned your experiences in this regard.
You touched on the problem my friend. There is a misconception that government workers are our servants. They are not. They are the Queens servants, in place to govern the people. Until people fix this error, we really won't be able to see the true relationships that we interact with every day. The government workers swear an oath to serve the queen, not us. As such they really are masters of the people, granted authority to be masters by the Queen.