As I see it being presented, is that *money + politics is bad recipe for American democracy. I don't see Sanders message as one that implies every single elected official always votes one way or the other solely because of where the money comes from. I think it's a slight misreading of his message to get that out of what he is saying. One of the 2 or 3 core tenets of his campaign from day one is campaign finance reform. I think we can all agree that Super PAC's concentrate the will of those with the most money into the largest and loudest megaphones, which in turn unfairly influences the outcomes of elections. I think we can all agree that SOME politicians absolutely are directly influenced by lobbyists. So if we can all agree that special interest group money + politics = bad as a core general principle, why split hairs and say, well not all politicians change their positions because of money, or not all elected officials draft policies based on who writes the checks for their campaign.
Am curious, what percentage of all the Senators and the members of the House of Representatives would you put in the "has been influenced in any way by lobbyist money" basket? 5%? 25%? 65%? 90%? Let's poll the American people and see what they think lol.
If you haven't already, I think everyone should read Capitol Punishment by Jack Abramoff for a sense of the scope of influence money has in politics.