The government still does have better resources, though. Times have changes a bit from the 1700s in that the most modern things available to the two parties are not the same for both sides anymore.
As for the 1700s, all of the wars I mentioned happened in the second half of 20th, and early 21st century, with a gigantic asymmetry in almost every relevant resource. Yet, in all three examples it took the US a whole decade of trying to win and then get a graceful exit, if that, against, basically, people with AK-47s and improvised bombs.