When it comes to government-issued IDs, "standard" and "free" is a solved problem in almost every country out there. US is a glaring exception in this regard, particularly so among developed countries. And it is strictly a failure of policy - US already has all the pieces in place for this, they just need to be put together with official blessing. But the whole issue is so politicized that both major parties view it as unacceptable deviation from their respective dogmas on the subject.

> But it's a hilarious sign of worldwide government incompetence that social insurance or other citizen identification cards are not standard, free, and uniquely identifiable and usable for online ID purposes (presumably via some sort of verification service / PGP).

Singapore does this. Everybody who is resident in Singapore gets an identity card and a login for Singpass – an OpenID Connect identity provider that services can use to obtain information like address and visa status (with user permission). There’s a barcode on the physical cards that can be scanned by a mobile app in person to verify that it’s valid too.

In the United States, the lack of citizen identification cards is largely due to Republican opposition. People who lack ID are more likely to be democratic voters, so there is an incentive to oppose getting them ID. There's also a religious element for some people, connected to Christian myths about the end of the world.