Either approach, the way it's written or the exclusion of the citizenship mention, is forcing a viewpoint into the narrative. It is very technically hard to write in an actually neutral manner, but this line was something that an editor should've cut out since it is clearly slanting the expression.

All that said, I think it's quite reasonable to favor the viewpoints of the dis-empowered, as the opposite approach would serve to reinforce any existing tyranny. The government is a large organization that has quite a lot of resources at it's fingertips - a private citizen... not so much.