Why can something so simple and unobjectionable happen in other places but not the US? Your knee-jerk response is the same as my own, but I wonder to what extent the apathy/cynicism has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And don't blame lobbyists; they should be lobbying, just as a public defender should be defending their client. The people deciding the wrong thing after all lobbying has happened are to blame, especially given they're funded by mandatory taxes.