America Isn't Broken - It's Built This Way

Protests Against ICE - US Immigration & Customs Enforcement

We often hear people say, "America is broken." The phrase is usually spoken in frustration, after a mass shooting in a primary school, a police brutality or cold-blooded murder case, a failure in healthcare and education, or a political circus of clowns. Every day I am thinking, what if America isn't broken at all? What if the systems we live under, inequality, racial injustice, corporate greed, and mass incarceration are not signs of dysfunction, but evidence of intentional design? This post explores the uncomfortable truth: the American system is working exactly as it was built to, and if we want real change, we must confront not the cracks in the wall, but the foundation itself.

We want to believe America is broken because the alternative is far more disturbing, that it’s functioning exactly as intended. Labelling it “broken” suggests that something went wrong along the way, some noble experiment in democracy and equality got corrupted, that we lost our way. It offers hope that we can simply fix what’s fractured, tweak a few laws, elect better leaders, or be nicer to each other. I won't hold my breath this will ever happen.

However, this myth is comforting precisely because it shields us from facing deeper truths. It tells us that the system has failed us when, in fact, the system was never built for all of us in the first place. Calling America “broken” absolves it of responsibility for the generational harm it has caused, and still causes, under the guise of normalcy. The comfort of the myth keeps us stuck. The truth might make us uncomfortable, but only truth has the power to free us.

You may ask, who was the system built for? It was built for constitution, slavery, land ownership, and power consolidation. Structural racism and classism were created by design. To better understand how things work today, we need to take a closer look at the blueprint. The foundation of American society was never neutral. The Constitution protected land-owning white men, not women, not the Indigenous people whose land was stolen, and certainly not the enslaved Africans whose labour built the nation's wealth. These early decisions weren’t accidents, they were architecture.

From the three-fifths compromise to Jim Crow laws to redlining and voter suppression, America’s structures were designed to consolidate power in the hands of the few. Wealth, whiteness, and property were the cornerstones. Class hierarchy and racial divisions were not unfortunate byproducts—they were essential to maintaining control. The echoes of this intentional design still reverberate in our systems today. And unless we name it, we can’t challenge it.

Throughout my entire life, when we see police brutality, violence, and murder disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities, or public schools in poor neighbourhoods underfunded and crumbling, we’re not witnessing glitches, we’re seeing a machine doing exactly what it was programmed to do. Mass incarceration, healthcare disparities, homelessness, lack of education, and food insecurity, these aren’t random policy failures. They are updated tools of the same old system. There is something to be said about learning our history or being doomed to repeat it.

The prison industrial complex didn't emerge by mistake. The criminalisation of poverty and protest isn't new. These are logical extensions of a country that has always punished the most vulnerable while rewarding those at the top. It's not about whether the system is working; it's about asking, for whom is it working? It is depressing watching the way President Trump continues to dismantle programs designed to make things better for hard working people and their families while helping billionaires to make even more money.

Years ago, when I worked in Washington, DC, local police would sell marijuana or cannabis, and other drugs to people living in poor communities. Once the sale was completed and the money was pocketed, other police would be waiting for the signal to arrest those Black and Brown people. They would be arrested and sent to prison for small possessions of drugs. Our work helped to make cannibas and other drugs legal, especially in Washington, DC and in other parts of America. To our surprise, crime rates were reduced almost immediately.

If the system benefits so few and harms so many, why doesn't it collapse under the weight of its injustice? The answer lies in distraction and division. The myth of a broken system is perpetuated by those who benefit from it: such as corporations, media conglomerates, healthcare insurance companies, and political elites who rely on a distracted, divided public who are struggling to survive, pay rent, and put food on the table.

Mainstream media often turns real suffering into entertainment or outrage porn. Politicians stage culture wars instead of addressing structural rot. It's exactly what we are all seeing today if you follow the daily bullshit or fake news designed to distract us from the truth. The more we fight each other over pronouns, flags, or statues, the less we question billionaires hoarding wealth or corporations dodging taxes. Divide and conquer isn't just a military tactic, it's how the powerful keep the rest of us in check.

Reform isn't enough when the structure itself is flawed. We can't keep slapping on policy band-aids while the roots of inequality continue to deepen. Real change requires radical imagination and the courage to dismantle what no longer serves justice. We must start rethinking policing, housing, healthcare, employment, and education; not as services to be improved. We must start thinking about systems to be reimagined with equity, dignity, and humanity at the centre. It means listening to the priority communities most impacted, trusting the grassroots, and redistributing power, not just money. It won't be easy, but no meaningful change ever is.

America isn't broken, it's simply built this way. But now that we see the foundation, we can decide what we want to do with that knowledge. Will we keep trying to renovate a house designed to exclude, or will we dare to build something new. I am aware this is not an easy thing to accomplish because it will take time and strategic planning. Awareness is not a stopping point; it's a starting line. It begins with questioning what we were taught, educating ourselves, talking to our friends, colleagues and neighbours, voting in local elections, organising, and resisting. It all starts when we stop asking, "How do we fix this?" and start asking, "What should we build instead?" The future isn't written, but we get to hold the pen. Don't let anyone take it from your hand.

So, do you have any ideas on what needs to be done to make America a better place?