Indeed many people don't understand Bitcoin.
A node doesn't have any influence on the network unless it adds blocks or pays fees.
Think of it like this: Your node only has READ access, but cannot write.
You can verify, but you cannot create.
Write access requires hashpower or transaction activity.
I like this take
nostr:note1yss4hl6gpyr0xdu3kr9d4g8vpzcwxds2vdq3x3wqfre4flsh3cvqgl57nn
The write access happens when you refuse to provide goods or services for coins your node disagrees with.
In that case you influence transaction activity of others to be in accordance to the protocol rules of your node.
Your node technically enables you to do that. But in the end, your power to influence others comes from your economic potential, not your node. It doesn't matter if you have 1 or 1000 nodes. Theoretically, you can do this even without node, in which case you cannot completely verify the settlement of the transaction yourself, but you could still exert your influence.
Or in other words, your node has zero influence if you don' t connect any economic activity to it.
You can be Elon Musk and yet without a node you won't achieve shit. Of course having more than one only gives you increased service availability but doesn't affect the network. And if your economic activity is not linked to your node it also has no effect.
