Watch: How the UK's Limits On Election Spending Make Their Democracy Healthier Than America's
In this amusing clip, the Daily Show draws a sharp contrast between America’s brutal, bloated slugfest of an election cycle with the recent polls in the United Kingdom, which was a much more restrained and unpretentious campaign.
Jordan Klepper is sent to London to interview the populace about how they felt about one of the “longest election cycles they’ve ever had”. Klepper is incredulous to find it was only six weeks long. In an interview with Election Reform Society head Katie Ghose, he asks “how you can spend five billion dollars in six weeks?”
Looking uncomfortable, Ms. Ghose replies that “Nobody would ever be allowed to spend five billion dollars. British people would be horrified by the sheer sums and the length of time over which money is spent on elections in America.” As the US already have some 300 people registered to run, at least fifteen major, recognizable candidates, millions of dollars raised and still a year and half to go before the election itself, one can see her point.
Klepper then explores other peculiarities of the British election that really put into perspective how far ours have sunk; the fact that political television advertising is banned, that muckraking and personal attacks are looked down upon, that cable networks don’t make a twenty-four hour media circus out of the political arena are all very confusing to him, but really speaks volumes about the way that our nation has let our elections become a gross spectacle that detracts from the significance of the job at stake. Maybe that’s why we get so many nuts like Ted Cruz and Ben Carson running every year.
Watch it here:
englandelection by ctaylor1337
