[patchwork]

Yeah. It's easy to survey a system and identify the people who, if they pitch an enormous screaming, spitting hissy-fit, will get their way today. It's very difficult for a layman to predict the long-term consequences of said hissy-fit in an unfamiliar system (and thus, perhaps, the reason said hissy-fit is not being pitched). "Who has a great deal of power but doesn't appear to be using it much at all" is always an interesting question that leads to more interesting questions.