“But realistically no one does it, jewish or gentile, and the government KNOWS THIS and tolerates this and deals with this in other ways”
I don’t know how to respond to this. Should I say that the government should never have made a law sh’ain hatzibbur yochol la’amod bo? But they did. And just because (you claim) many people are not doing what is required, I myself should be less than honest?
The saddest part is how you are surprised by this to the point of incredulity.