The cop who pulls me over on the highway has more power over me than my mayor does, or even my governor. Looking at the policies Trump talks about that I can actually analyze ("Make America Great Again" doesn't count), none of them will affect me to the tune of more than $1K / year at best/worst.

I am, of course, ignoring the prospect of truly insane shit like starting a nuclear war with Russia. That would affect me pretty dramatically. :) But low level bureaucrats don't have the power to start a war, thankfully.

And thats for a country in Top 10 Ease of doing business [1]. In others politicians/bureaucrats are truly someone to be afraid of. Case in point: The Current Income Tax Raid Raj in India [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ease_of_doing_business_index

[2] https://qz.com/860230/here-a-raid-there-a-raid-everywhere-a-...

Fair. The context of your comments made me think it was safe to assume we are talking about the US.

> The cop who pulls me over on the highway has more power over me than my mayor does, or even my governor.

In an immediate and direct sense, perhaps. Of course that cop and many, many others are just one of many means by which the governor excercises power over you.

Wealth and power are readily and frictionlessly converted to and from each other. They are like mass and energy--ultimately measuring the same thing.