Again, never attribute to malice(conspiracy) what can be explained by stupidity.
Are there manipulative evil and powerful people and groups?
Absolutely.
Groups (of people)of any kind by nature become less effective at reaching their stated goals the longer they exist and more people get involved. The interpretation of the stated goals becomes less and less defined the more people there are to interpret it. If there are any corollary personal gains to be gotten from the group through manipulation or deceit, they will always get discovered and exploited by the kinds of people known as politicians today. This has been illustrated over and over throughout history. No group is sacred, and the largest, most likely are the worst for society and the individuals who make up the group.
All this being said, the US government has methods allowing the people to correct these mistakes if they're wise enough to spot the problem practices and the problem people. Unfortunately, blindness to this ability has allowed the politicians to rig the game more and more over the years.
I'm an optimist and believe America can, and possibly will, reign in its bad habits and corrupt policies, but it IS up to the public to systematically question and examine the choices being made by those they send to represent them, on ALL levels from city council to mayor to state rep to congress to president, and to continue to do so FOREVER. That's the way this system works. If you're not willing to put this work in yourself, remember that there are others out there COUNTING on making decisions IN SPITE of you and your interests.
