The way our government has operated has fundamentally changed in my lifetime. Influence was always present, but it was outlawed, hidden- and when found, punished. This hostile atmosphere marginalized its influence on daily affairs.
Today, none of these things happen to the oligarchs. The donor class is free to anonymously dump unlimited sums into our political system, swamping grassroots efforts like Mr Sanders' famous $27 average.
@Unclebaldrick you've made a basic mistake in judgement about the consequences of such open vote tampering and suppression of citizen participation; what's going on now is the 'in your face' endgame, not the beginning.
We the People have been told to our noses that our say doesn't matter.
As this point, we cannot say the society we live in is a democracy if the will of the majority is openly- and this part is essential, "OPENLY"- ignored or manipulated in favor of a powerful minority.
So dither and split all the semantic hairs you like. The truth is plain enough.
Do the American People collectively have the balls to hold our government accountable, or are we for sale to the highest bidder- to include foreign nations with cash and access to law firms and lobbyists?
THAT is the question before us. Most aren't even asking it.