I remember seeing in encyclopedia talmudis when i learned bava metzia, there’s an entry on dina demalchua, where he brings rishonim who say that it only applies to monetary issues; moreover, some hold that the reasoning is that since the king owns everything, we’re only able to use the land and resources as oer his directives. This would make it not apply nowadays, but the loskim seemingly do not go with this rishon in practical psak halacha.
Issues of chilul hashem have little to nothing to do with dina dimalchusa and i would note that the conflation of the two seems to belie a different motivation….can those of us who champion – legitimately so – dina dinalchusa etc say unequivocally that their intentions aren’t at all motivated by a desire for acceptance by goyim and not to be looked down on by them? The same way it is possible for someone who rails against working and/or college – legitimately again – to simply be lazy, I think especially during the aseres yemei teshuva it is worthwhile to put aside mekoros for a moment and undertake an introspection to identify what motivates our opinions, if it is really for Hashem’s kovod or personal bias and middos.
Everyone has their “pet” issue; I’ll admit that I can go on and on about modern orthodoxy and Zionism untill next shmitah, and I’ll also admit that it is possible that my – again legitimate – criticism comes from personal feelings; not the facts and logic, but rather the motivation for and the intensity of the feelings therefrom