The easiest solution to your problem are the pass through shares and mining pools available for sale on one of the bitcoin stock exchanges. You can be a part of a mining pool or gain a share in a mining company for a very small investment and when you have enough you will be allowed to vote on the key issues for that security.

If you look at the distribution of blocks right now it is clear that their is a fairly good distribution of mining power. Unfortunately your late arrival to the game makes it impractical for you to start mining without a significant capital investment. As you said this is the way of the world and if you want to get exposure to mining their are still ways to do it, just not through direct personal investment.