One word: peanuts.
The two largest political parties in Germany are projected to spend less than 25 million euros each on the general election campaign for this September.
That's a generous under 35 million USD. So, there are fewer people here, and we can do a rule of thumb for comparison. With a population as large as the US, the amount would come out at a little over 100 million USD.
That's what Romney and Obama needed to raise each month for some 18 months or so in order to stay in the race.
In the US, the German spending would barely get you elected as coroner or as supervisor of the local waste management board. The yuck factor makes these cheap.
Even in light of the NSA fuckup, don't expect a higher presidential yuck factor to get the 2016 spending down.
No, despite what the news of the past week may have been interpreted as, not everything around here is just peachy.
People are people.
Still, getting to buy a democracy that functions like the other Western democracies at this bargain basement rate surprises us every time an election rolls around.
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