I think there is a big step made from recognizing the issue to concluding that it is normal. Indeed, scratching beyond the surface, the entire concept of normality per se is pretty difficult to justify.

First, let's call it what it is -- corruption -- and let's not pretend that "the American project" makes it morally any more appropriate than corruption in, say, eastern European or African governments, to reuse old stereotypes.

Yes, special interests have captured the levers of power. It seems as if the Framers had the idea to structure government in such a way that there is a healthy separation between the demos and the control of governmental policy, but they only imagined landed gentry, and not abstract superstructures-cum-monopolies of the rich and powerful, would be the managers of this "democracy".