You don't live in America right Omega? I wanted to note that I find it cool that people like you are very interested in this, if other people have the same level of interest in other countries as you seem to demonstrate it really just proves that it's not only america that wants a better goverment, but the world wants america to get their shit together, too.
Trust me, all of the world's eyes are on America right now. Not just here in the Netherlands, but in all of Europe. Every single primary and caucus has been reported on here in the Netherlands. The vast majority wants a democrat to win, too. According to some poll, Hillary Clinton is apparently the favorite here, Obama being a close second.
Another important thing is that the presidential elections are so incredibly spectacular in America. Everything that goes on here in Europe pales in comparison.
EDIT: but to some degree, that's also good... when you vote in the Netherlands, you vote more for the party than the person. There's also more to it than just two parties. Since every party that participates gets its fair share of seats in the Dutch House of Representatives (
Tweede Kamer, or "Second Chamber"), and that's where most of the interesting stuff happens, it's possible for small parties to be effective too. A good example of why this works is a small party that has just a few seats (2 out of 150 I believe) that exists solely to discuss animal rights. They're very small, and one would expect them to not be capable of getting anything done, but they're actually surprisingly effective. They can raise questions that no other party would. They've introduced hundreds of ideas and plans, and some of them got accepted. So even a minority can have its voice be heard in a system like this. The downside is that we have less spectacular races for the House!
That was my daily America-bashing comment, thanks for your attention.