Oh yeah, I mean as an outside observer they’ve seemed pretty ineffective.
But I do wonder how much is exacerbated by, for example: foreign interference/propaganda, sub-par educational levels and engagement of the electorate, 24/7 News entertainment, citizens united, the absolute audacity of the boomer generation to benefit from very generous social policies and then turn around and screw the younger generations on the exact same benefits they themselves received.
The American default (and increasingly, the Western default) seems to be fuck you I got mine (until something bad happens to me).
Now, I’m not American - I just pay attention. My boomer parents in law will sit there and complain about the state of every service - paid or social - like banking, doctors etc. and I have to contain myself when I tell them that capitalism by nature degrades and enshittifies every good thing the middle class had and that Millennials really, truly, do not believe anything will ever be good again. They look at me like I have 5 heads. Truly not a clue.
Alan Partridge