This is the "imperial strikes back" moment of big blockers. There was a chance to go back to pre taproot bloat, while still enjoying taproot, and reinforce the op return limit that has been in place for most of bitcoin's life. It all went down the drain on Saturday. Still, if it had been rejected by a USARF, then it would have been bad but you could argue node runners and plebs are still in charge. What happened instead is that miners demonstrated they are in charge now. They ultimately decide what changes go in (bitcoin core ones) and which do not (bip110) Go rewatch that old video by Andreas to an Ethereum crowd, "the difference between I won't do that and I can't do that". The State can now coopt bitcoin at will with 6 or 7 phone calls. A hard fork is required now as an insurance policy. While it exists, the State is incentiviced not to abuse their control on Bitcoin too clearly or to fast, or people might jump off their coopted chain. If it is not there, then you have no choice and the State pretty much owns you again. Don't you see it?