> This statement made me think quite hard. Why do I not really believe in quid pro quo's (especially like this)? I didn't come up with any particularly good answers, but it would seem to be related to my own childhood and probably the rest of my life, that seems remarkably free of any such arrangements. I've seen them written about, portrayed on TV and in movies, but never in a way that convinced me that they were real (or common, or something). Now, there's every chance that I'm just simply wrong about this, and quid pro quos really are how the world works. It just doesn't seem that way to me.
Quid pro quos[0] are how the world works; you may not have been exposed to it. If you want a detailed discussion of corruption, the book Game of Mates[1] documents corrupt dealing in Australia. If you want a domestic example, look at Illinois politics.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_college_admissions_briber...