We're not living in a democracy. We're living in an oligarchy. Of course those at the top won't get punished. That class never gets punished. Who else is gonna fund all those old decrepit bickerers in Washington?
> Get rid of them! You can do that here
No you cannot, the US has gerrymandering which makes it very difficult to get rid of politicians in local/state races.
The influence of the Koch's or Adelson is largely hinged on the fact that Americans don't use critical thinking when consuming their media. Rather than trying to find a way to wiggle around the first ammendment when it comes to spending on speech, why not try to build an electorate capable of critical thinking? If you don't think that's possible, then what's the point of any of this?
In the end, it left the impression on me that Putin is just a player or a puppet who owes a lot of people.