I think we agree on that as a general principle. But I think there’s also something pretty distasteful about the concept of “just comply” particularly when police are often very happy to play games with your constitutional rights.
If my part of the social contract is to comply when confronted by an officer, then the officer’s part of the social contract should be to act in good faith and work to ensure my rights are protected but officers often don’t do that and courts have ruled they essentially don’t have to.
Now a judge may rule later that a stop or arrest was illegal and any charge against me may be dropped, but in the mean time I already spent 2 days in jail, had to pay a bond I couldn’t afford, lost my job for no call/no show, and then had to miss a job interview to be in court to meet with a public defender to ensure that I’m able to show that the arrest wasn’t legal. And even if I’m then able to sue and win damages, that can take a year or more to resolve.
To some people, this is the result of just complying. So we need better policing and we need bail reform and we need court reform because the speed at which an unlawful arrest can turn someone’s life completely upside down is mind bottling. Hell even a lawful arrest for a non-violent misdemeanor shouldn’t have life altering circumstances.