We don't have these things because 50% of the population is dumb as bricks and is voting against their own interest.

It's the money in politics. Doesn't matter how young or old the politicians are.

I have always wished that requiring congressmen work a minimum wage job in their district that they have to look for and apply to like the rest of us while out of session would do anything. Deal with some Karens to humble them properly.

No. It's because the constitution effective abolishes democracy, by ensuring a two-party system.

In the US democracy is limited to one coin toss worth of decision making once every four years. Add to that that their first-to-the-post system eliminates all election power to non-swing-states, that means ~40 of the states have no democratic input at all, and the rest has up to 15 bit worth of democratic input over their whole life time.

Thus politicians have nothing to fear at all. They mess up, who cares? It's gonna be their turn after the next term limit anyway.