40 years ago I loved Kurt Vonnegut. (Before I met a family member of his who said he was a seriously paranoid schizo wife beater and generally bad guy). But he made some good points. One of the things he talks about was “The Money River”. The elites knew where the river was and would instruct new initiates that they all had to be very careful in their lapping at the bank to do so very quietly so the “little people” don’t find out where it is. The message being in this case is that the Abbie Hoffmann, the Jane Fondas, the PEOPLE YOU KNOW ABOUT aren’t the actual people who know where the money river is. The names you know are the smoke screen to distract attention from the folks who are busily slurping up the refreshment from the money river.
I forget where a I read years ago that there was trough and the pigs in DC and their connections all had a spot at the trough feed by public funds.