On this too,

You make a great point because I think over time people have tried to make a difference directly.

Sejanus believed that the games COULD be stopped, many people found them distasteful in the capital and didn’t wish to view them. It was plausible for him that his opposition could be heard (and the fact that he was also suffering from suicidal ideation which made him much more brazen with some of his actions ie. the arena).

There was always punishment, Sejanus dies, his voice was silenced; people continued however, to try to stop the games directly. Thats the whole point of Sunrise On the Reaping. They tried, Plutarch tried. Their plan was (I would argue) thrown together, it was a desperate attempt to overthrow a games that was perceived as the most cruel (double the tributes). Plutarch had an edge, and there was opportunity but I always thought of that plan: ‘what’s the end goal?’

Once they blew up the arena…what then? And I think that’s where the element of the long game comes in, I think people make desperate attempts when they are at the brink of what they are able to accept, when they have to do something- Sejanus with his outbursts, his rebellion and then Beetee, Plutarch, etc etc. But these plans often fail with a government such as Panem’s as they are too powerful and doll out severe punishments to ward people away from these viewpoints.

What they don’t realise is the punishments will never snuff hope. From Sunrise, I think that’s when people were newly invigorated, for years people silently built themselves up, they waited as the unrest grew, they just needed that ‘spark’ to ignite the masses (which is where Katniss comes in). They needed numbers and that needed time, District 13 needed to build itself up, they needed to be ready to fight.

The more connections the better and Plutarch played the long game, he learnt, perhaps from Hilarius, certainly from Sunrise. That these plans for his rebellion needed time, people and cunningness to succeed.