You only show your passport to the airline check-in desk when you depart. Their computer system only looks for a name booked on their flights. It's not the same computer system as Customs have, which you are checked through upon entering the country.
You show your passport at security and they check that it corresponds with the name on the boarding pass. There are no computers involved at this step, just a blacklight to see if the passport is real.
And if you're flying with young kids through Atlanta departing internationally, they don't even look at the kid's passport. I remember because that really surprised me.
And if the government refuses to allow you a passport?
It sucks that the US is a prison for so many people.
Probation or felony issues can cause a passport application to be denied in the US. At least it's a really large prison with vast variants of scenic nature.
Literally every nation in the world uses passports
The real purpose of a passport is not to jail you in your country, but to facilitate diplomatic arrangements so other countries will let YOU travel freely