The OP mentioned companies play a kingmaker role by owning the platforms on which elections are won and lost. The implication is that they can directly and disproportionately influence the government, such that the government is their tool and not the people’s tool, as in a bonafide democracy.

The question isn’t whether the government or corporations have more power, it’s whether corporations or the people control the government and in which proportions.

> The idea that companies or citizens are more powerful than governments is fanciful in the extreme.

I’m certain King George would have agreed with you in 1775.

The people in the USA specifically are better armed and outnumber the US military many times over. This was by design.

You could make an argument about nukes or tanks or drones - but you know what has to stand on street corners to enforce curfews, stop assembly, or protect supply chains? Soldiers.

The US government as an entity is weaker than the people it sees over - for now. Many people are intent to change that.

Here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22025893 - there is an illustration of different points of view in the same - but modified - texts. Perhaps it partially explains difference in opinions on seemingly the same facts.