Whenever I encounter one of these "grand puppeteer" conspiracies that span many years and thousands of individuals, I think back to my own experience. How difficult it was for my own father to get me to do little things that he and conventional wisdom thought was good for me.

I think that all theories of government can be boiled down to two truisms, "Money Talks" and "most individuals are lazy." The corporations and rich people certainly have too much influence. But it is our fault. And your delusion that it is some grand conspiracy is not helping.