Ballot access on a party line is key, and a plurality in the primary can get you on the ballot for the general election. Then you need 51% of the maybe 60% of the people who vote.
Unless you are really very wealthy and can buy your way in, no outsider gets anywhere politically without working their way up some faction of the Republican or Democratic organization.
“Unless you are really very wealthy and can buy your way in, no outsider gets anywhere politically without working their way up some faction of the Republican or Democratic organization.”
Regardless how you get there you have to convince a majority of people to vote for you. There have been many billionaires, such a Bloomberg, Perot, Rockefeller, Mittens and other that didn’t make it.
Carter, Clinton, Obama, and even Sock Puppet were not exactly billionaires. They got there by working their way through the ranks and convincing enough people to vote for them.
And even the rich ones don’t pay for their elections. If they’re popular they’ll have PACs and donors pay for them.
And in a two party system like we have (because of winner take all elections), of course you have to work up your way through the ranks of either party. Trump was a bit of a fluke.
To me all this seems obvious and natural, but you seem to think it’s somehow nefarious??