Here's a quote from Ernest Gellner which supports your third paragraph:
The state has not merely the monopoly of legitimate violence, but also of the accreditation of educational qualification.
(Going further than the famous quote from Max Weber)
You're absolutely right that the recognition of the power-problem is essential, but what comes next? I suppose it could be the patient escape from the "Empire of the Mind". Do you remember what Churchill said, as the "British Empire" was being "dismantled" (of course, actually rebranded)?
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.