Agree that politicians pork barrel a lot here, especially in an election year. But that's done in the USA in addition to their fundamentally corrupt system.
It's not in the same league or at the same scale as what is happening in the USA and most voters here can easily see through it, even if it works in the short term.
The biggest problem that they have over there that we don't have to the same extent here is the buying of politicians, at least not at the same scale. It does happen here but is not built into the system like it is over there. (Here the pollies have to buy votes, over there pollies are themselves bought as well as them buying votes.)
In Australia you don't have to be very wealthy to get elected. And the smear campaigns against candidates aren't in the same league as those in the USA.
