8 weeks to the German election

And everybody in Germany is on vacation. What a campaign this one is.

In the US, we'd all be yearning for the circus to end, for the commercials to stop and finally be replaced with the yoghurt and car commercials we love to hate when there is no election campaign.

Around here, you blink, you have missed the whole campaign.

Frankly, some days we wonder if we missed the bulletin that announced there would not be an election, cancelled due to lack of interest.

This is all the more strange because people around here still go and vote,  with participation rates the United States has not seen in a long time.  While the German rate of over 90% in 1976 has been the all time high since the end of World War II, the 70% of 2009 are not a happy value, a measly 13% above the US rate.

The approval rating of the German parliament and of government used to be better, and the population was more engaged lament the politicians and the media.

We at the K-Landnews continue to enjoy every German election campaign because of the quaint nature of the undertaking.

A while back, we stopped near a campaign stand next to the farmers' market.

Two or three volunteers with flyers in their hands tried to engage passers by. A lot of people stopped - all but one knew the volunteers, and animated chatting ensued.

On the way home, we wondered if our surrepetitious observation had been rude. Why didn't we walk right up to them and get acquainted with this facet of our host country's political culture?

It is question without an easy answer. Part not wanting to impose on them in their pursuit of undecided voters, part a cynical view of the political process with a dose of resignation, part who cares.

Watching Germans campaign is one of our few guilty pleasures - we cannot get enough of the rituals  that have so much meaning and, at the same time, so little to us.

So, in a few weeks, job security for the German political class is renewed for another four years, and we will feel as well represented as we have felt since we took up residence here.