So all you have to do is save up somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000 (plus living expenses. You won't be working while you're campaigning.) just to get some low-level government position. You then spend 4-10 years escalating your way up the line till your somewhere that you can make decisions. Now if you're a clean and respectable politician, you will almost instantly be rejected. If you ARE elected, you be ostracized and put on some board overseeing the clam population in Nevada. So yes, you COULD make decisions if the entire system wasn't based around the fact that the people in charge don't want to give up the power or money they have accumulated.