I doubt very much if anyone with any knowledge of history, American or otherwise, has any delusion that pure, town-hall-meeting democracy has ever existed except on the micro-scale (and please don't bring up male-centric, slave holding Athens). People have been buying votes ever since there have been votes to be bought.

"Same as it ever was" isn't too far off, although I don't think that capitalism, as currently practiced, is completely unregulated. In fact, we are far from the truly unregulated times of the late nineteenth century. OTOH, 'room for improvement' fails to express the distance we have yet to travel.