[Gud]

The US is only nominally democratic. You get politicians bought and paid for. Perhaps there are counter examples, but not many.

Only democracy in the western world where there is so much money involved in the elections, is the USA.

[robocat]

The influence of money is a weakness of any democracy. Maybe look at other democratic countries. Definitely seen it here in New Zealand.

[Gud]

It is absolutely not necessary to spend billions to become president of Germany, in fact it is probably illegal...

[robocat]

I believe the influence is hidden in countries where smaller amounts have a bigger impact.

A few million can have an outsized influence in New Zealand. Which can mean other countries interfere (not just wealthy broligarches). There was a significant controversy in the 2005 New Zealand elections regarding budgets. It is alleged US fundamentalists funded the Exclusive Brethren Church to produce pamphlets in support of the National Party, by smearing both the Labour Party and the Green Party. https://wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_New_Zealand_election_funding...

Peter Thiel was given a New Zealand passport by our National Party (maybe by being chummy, although obviously his wealth helped him). The only reason he might not influence NZ politics would be if he doesn't give a shit about our politics.

The wealthiest person born in New Zealand is Graeme Hart worth ~USD10G ranked by Forbes at about #340.

For the New Zealand 2023 General Election, political parties officially spent a total of about USD8M.

There's a lot of scope for malign influence here.