> Unlike other developed democracies, the U.S. is a country where bribing the Congress is actually legalized, in the form of campaign donations.

That's not remotely true. It is illegal to actually give any gifts to any government official (including elected officials). This extends in practical effect to "we have to charge the DoE for coffee when they're doing a site visit."

You can donate to political campaigns--just as you can in every democratic country I'm aware of. Candidates can solicit donations--just as they can in every democratic country I'm aware of. What's atypical in the US is that the party structure is incredibly weak (which means you get less relative funding from party sources, and therefore candidates have to get more funding from fundraising), and elections are so eye-wateringly expensive that you need to spend more time fundraising to be competitive.