I really think that the United States is now an oligarchy, the oligarchy being American corporates. And they have the best government a company can buy.
As such, the American citizen is kind of squashed. Their interests are the last to be factored - companies/politicians/lobbyists all carve it up and the leftovers are thrown. So, people are forced into this position or that, driven by media that is corporate owned and takes care of its own interests.
But US citizens, like most of us, sit somewhere in the middle and don't want too much of this or that.
It is fair to say that they are really struggling economically - always the case when a society has loads of billionaires.
For example, when PEW asked voters for their positions on abortion, health care, and so on, in the context of party (Dem/Rep), people answered along party lines.
When the same topics were polled as discussions outside of political affiliation, the polled were centrist in most of their answers.
So to your point, I think that we do "improve," like the sports people. It is just that sometimes, people get corralled and have nowhere to turn.