Is this just the inevitable tradeoff of federation?

Not being able to follow someone isn't a federation problem, it's an instance mismatch problem.

When you can't follow the people you want on Twitter (because they were banned), that's an instance mismatch. Your preferences don't align with Twitter's.

The difference is that, with Twitter, there is only one instance. You can't switch to a different Twitter where those people aren't blocked.

On Fedi, you can choose an instance that blocks and federates according to your preference. And if you can't find one (unlikely for most users), you can host your own.

If you just want Piefed instances with less regulation, these appear to have the fewest number of blocks:

• Quokk.au
• Keyboard Vagabond
• Bookwyr.me