America has a corruption problem...

America has a corruption problem...  It's not as blatant as the corruption in Russia, China, India, or even Italy.  But it's there, it's insidious, and it's affecting American innovation.

Corruption:  Perversion or destruction of integrity in the discharge of public duties by bribery or favour; the use or existence of corrupt practices, especially in a state, public corporation, etc.

For quite a few years now, I've been paying more attention to historians, economists, and political scientists who theorize that systems of government inevitably accumulate the elements of corruption over time, eventually becoming so dysfunctional, evil, or sclerotic that they are conquered or overthrown.  I am becoming increasingly convinced that they are correct about inevitability, and that even the grand experiment that is America will eventually succumb.  The only thing that gives me hope of escaping this fate is that it is at least theoretically possible for Americans to have a peaceful revolution through the ballot box.  The 2012 election cycle just about wiped out that hope for me.  The 2014 cycle is looking a bit better, but then the 2012 cycle looked pretty good 9 months before the election, too.  If the 2016 election cycle fails to look even remotely like a revolution, then I think the last vestiges of my hope will have been stomped into the ground.

And if the American experiment is doomed to fail, what then for someone living in these times?