Seems like all the more reason to put the responsibility and blame on the government. You will never eliminate “influence”, and especially the more power the government has, the more value there is in spending on “influence”. The only possible solution is to hold the government and the representatives responsible for taking actions to the detriment of their constituents. If we give them a pass because “elections can be influenced” we might as well just disband the government and allow governing by the highest bidder.

It doesn't work that way. What we have seen is that big money will always find a way to corrupt the government. In any case the priority 0 of most elected officials is to raise money for their re-election.

Eh, even the distinction between private enterprise and government is largely irrelevant. At the end of the day, forces too large to fight conspire to make peoples' lives miserable.