The problem with that promise is that it is enormously expensive for consumers to run Bitcoin nodes.
i don't know what scale you use when you say "enormously expensive" but it sounds like you have never bothered trying to run a bitcoin node before you make this statement. of course you aren't downloading a tiny app like a music player that takes up 20 MB!! but the cost is by no means "enormous". not to mention that there are a lot of different options to reduce the resources it needs such as limiting upload rate, connection count, storage space,...
I was about to say that and looked for a similar comment.
I guess OP wanted to say mine Bitcoin not run a node, because running a node is pretty cheap. For most people a 1TB drive is very affordable and that + any computer, even an outdated one is enough to run a node. You can even buy an old laptop for $100 and run a node on it.
What governments can make expensive is mining as increasing the cost of power can make it impossible to mine in a given country. That does make BItcoin dependant on the government. You can't effectively ban it but you can ban mining and you can ban fiat trading.