I don't doubt a single word of this.
Here's an experiment for you: go take a poll among all your friends and acquaintances. Ask them, "Who is the most powerful person in the United States?" In all the replies, you're going to hear everything but the fact. Not one of those people is going to give you the correct answer, which is: the cop on the street.
These people can instantly derail your life on the merest whim that they are able to make up on the spot, and then you're in The Machine for the duration. There doesn't have to be anything remotely reasonable about any of it, and certainly not anything having to do with what America was all about.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: it is utterly impossible to attain a complete understanding of politics in this country now without having spent at least one night in jail.
(link: Bill St. Clair)