Yanks elect police officers and judges. They also allow corporations to openly bribe politicians and call it lobbying. Somehow, those “corruption index” reports always say the US is clean.
What I’ve noticed is while there’s absolutely corruption at high levels in America, amongst the rich, there’s almost no situation where (say) you have to sneakily hand over an extra $20 at the DMV to get your driver’s license. Or slip your nurse at the hospital an extra $50 to make sure she cares for you appropriately. Or get a lavish gift for teacher so you can get the grade you need to get into the right school.
I mean, here or there people can try that stuff, but it’s still a legit scandal if it happens, it’s not baked into society.
Whereas that sort of casual greasing-of-hands with an extra $5 here, extra $20 there $50 there at every single level even amongst not-rich folks can supposedly be common in heavily corrupted societies.
Yeah, there’s corruption–but it’s pretty over-our-heads for everyday stuff. It’s not baked into everyday interactions we have if we go down the street to the grocery store, or want to get a Passport done.
Police officers don’t get elected, but the sheriffs do. I think this is mostly a holdover from when the only real law within a hundred miles of a town was the sheriff.
I do agree that electing judges is odd. My state doesn’t even allow us to vote on electing them anymore, but just on retaining them in office. I’ve always voted “No” just because I don’t think it’s appropriate.
Now if you want to get really weird, most areas also elect their coroner and there usually is no skill or education requirement to be elected.
