Compared to most of the world, America's government system is still very competent and accountable. Think about highways, OSHA, FAA, NASA, etc. I'd certainly

Compared to most of the world, America's government system is still very competent and accountable. Think about highways, OSHA, FAA, NASA, etc. I'd certainly not call it "rotten to the core." Other countries' citizens rage not because they have it better than America - they rage because (usually) they have it worse! But calling it fundamentally corrupt serves as self-fulfilling prophecy, because once citizens internalize the concept that the government is corrupt and nothing can be done (short of an armed revolution), then of course nothing can be done - because even in the most pessimistic scenario America will still take a generation before an armed revolution would look palatable. It sets up the false dichotomy between "uprooting the society and everyone's lives in it" vs. "doing nothing and saying that nothing can be done."