All of the arguments that "nodes do matter" have the logical fallacy of taking the "intended way the network SHOULD work" as the "actually technically resulting technical operation".
I agree with all you say. However, the situation is even more dire. Turns out we have been lied to all this time. The reality is that no entity is a node, if that entity does not mine. Indeed, this is the true, original, and proper definition of a
node.
We need to reevaluate who 'sold us a bill of goods'. We have abdicated our authority in the network. In reality, non-mining nodes are irrelevant. Indeed, in the original wallet, nodes mine - period.
from
https://github.com/trottier/original-bitcoin/blob/92ee8d9a994391d148733da77e2bbc2f4acc43cd/src/main.h#L795// Nodes collect new transactions into a block, hash them into a hash tree,
// and scan through nonce values to make the block's hash satisfy proof-of-work
// requirements. When they solve the proof-of-work, they broadcast the block
// to everyone and the block is added to the block chain. The first transaction
// in the block is a special one that creates a new coin owned by the creator
// of the block.
GitHub
trottier/original-bitcoin
original-bitcoin - This is a historical repository of Satoshi Nakamoto's original bitcoin sourcecode
(emphasis added)
I don't know when the definition of 'node' became corrupted to include non-mining entities. I don't know who introduced this lie. Though I must admit to propagating it. For years. Sorry. I was ignorant.