No, it's not that exactly. The problem is that artificial entities called "political parties" control the $ySStem. They are beholden to their primary funding sources. Their primary funding sources are major corporations, banks, and other large financial entities of that sort, plus a consortium of very rich people who have traditionally owned and controlled those entities.

You can figure it out from there.

Political parties cannot be depended upon to represent the general public (although they always pretend to). They also divide the general public against one another by creating great hostility against the party or parties you don't support. These party line divisions cause a lot of long term stress and hatred in a society, to no useful purpose whatsoever.

The only way you could possibly clean up this mess would be:

1. abolish all political parties forever.
2. select candidates in some other manner than party conventions (Perhaps by local nominations? Perhaps by lot among those qualified and willing to serve?)
3. fund ALL candidates' campaigns equally from a public fund, so as to remove lobbyists from controlling politicians and influencing policy.
4. the government then formed would have to work as a cooperative group, forming committees, discussing and debating legislation and policy, and voting on it. 2/3 majority would be required to ratify legislation. You would not have competing blocs jockeying against each other in the government, you would have an assembly of independent individuals who would have to work things out as they went. This would be far more like real democracy than the party-controlled system we have now.

Guess what. It ain't gonna happen. ;-) Why would the rich and powerful of this land give away their control to the ordinary public when they don't have to?