Much of what you say is true and I can't find flaw in it. But I'll point out one thing that stuck out to me. You mentioned Mitt Romney, why?
You expressed doubt as to if he gave a shit about any of us. Of course he does, about as much as anyone else outside your immediate sphere of family, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances do. You think it is because he is rich. It's not, it's because he is removed from you.
You ever hear a story in the news about someone you never heard of getting killed in a car wreck, or stabbed to death or something and just burst out into tears? I'll assume not, why not? Is it because you don't care? They have a parent, spouse, sibling or child that is inconsolable at that moment, but you may change the station in the middle of the story and laugh as you think about something crazy Carl did at work that day. Happens to me all the time.
No one truly cares about you except the people you are close to. Why should we expect a politician to? That is the biggest lie they need to sell, that they care about you; Democrats and Republicans, because neither does.
People really dont act in what is truly their best interest, but what they have an immediate desire to do.
Think of this... Recently someone tried to recruit me into some sort of multi level marketing thing. In had to pay $150 to join, find two others to do the same, which each of them had to do. We each then had to buy $100 worth of gold or silver (which really isn't that bad considering buying gold and silver isn't like buying pretty much other goods, in that second hand value isn't any less than what you pay for it) each week and after 12 weeks you would be pulling in $6k per week.
It worked, it was math, he showed me on my desk.
And its true, if everyone had the numbers found the people and bought the metal, you'd be making thousands of dollars a week in no time.
There is only one problem, the odds of that are astronomically small. It would be in everyone's best interest to do it. You are really only out the 150 to join, the gold you bought is always going to be worth a lot of money, its not like a used exercise machine. But people don't do shit like that.
In short, everyone's best interest is the well being of the country, a rising tide lifts all boats. But no one acts in that interest. Everyone perceives their self interest to be immediate gratification, which is often not in their ultimate best interest.