Technology, be it the newest smart phone or a chipped stone spear point, leads us. New technologies change how we interact with our surroundings, which in turn changes our priorities, and where we apply industry (our attention and resources).
The role of government is to help us deal with change, not cause it. This explains why government changes so little; why the system is such that perhaps meaningful legislation is pared down, cut back, made meaningless in order to "pass" in the system.