You need to fix people as "systems" are just people. The neglect has the opposite effect.
Systems are things like checks-and-balances, incentive structures, power structures, organizational design, and conflict resolution structures.
The US didn't work better than Soviet Russia because it had better people, much as Americans would like to believe themselves superior. It worked better because it had better institutions, starting with a very well-drafted Constitution.
Given a 2020 context, those structures are starting to function less well. You won't fix them by asking politicians to behave better; you need to address the structural issues.
And people at the top rarely understand implications of their actions. Organizational systems are HARD.