"USA is a specially broken place"

It really is a bizarre place to live... it's both the richest nation in the world, but also uniquely broken in many really sad and confusing ways.

Pretty sure unlimited campaign spending (much of it without attribution via dark money) is a major contributor. While not legally bribery, it sure does look like a duck. Not to mention the actual bribery (747s and weddings for Trump being the most obvious examples).