We could have a dog-eat-dog society like Mad Max or something. Or we could set simple rules and live a decent life. Its kind of what Democracy is about.
Workers indeed show up and make things run, but only because they voluntarily chose to agree to a contract where that is their duty. If they don't like the terms of their contract, they can not take it, renegotiate their current one, find a new one, or take on risk and start your own income. You can't "accidentally" fall into a job.
We have to grow up, and recognize that as our country grew from 10M to 450M people, certain processes and activities have to be streamlined and organized. You don't run the company by letting folks show up for shifts at random and hope for the best. You don't run a country's infrastructure that way either.