@blake No.

The billionaires are privileged in every large-scale domain, including of course manipulating government action. But the state is where they are least privileged. That's still a lot privileged! But their money can't reliably buy elections, electoral outcomes often defy funding flows, and politicians are only reliably bought while issues are obscure to public scrutiny. It's an uphill fight everywhere but the quasidemocratic state is not a futile battleground. Cynicism is foolish.