Final point, ideological diversity is hampered by the parliamentary system - especially the fact that parties mostly vote as blocs. So the views and votes of the individual representative matter far less than they do in the US. Which makes the system less democratic, in the sense that there's less room for individual views; but at the same time, it also makes German politics less personality-driven.

You really think that the individual views, that matter so much in the US system, and don't matter so much in the German system, really makes the German system less democratic? As the individual representative's views matter so much in the US system, that individual is also much more likely to be lobbied, pressured, bought, bribed and therefore less accountable and more of a lose canon than a MdB in Germany. The party as a whole, because it votes en bloc, is also therefore tighter hold to accountability to its platform and as most Germans vote for more for the platform first and only second for the individual, I feel our system is more democratic. In the US you never know who all of the sudden kisses up to what kind of legislation for what kind of dubious reasons.

May be I miss something in the German system. I obviously have some unfounded unreasonable rosy nostalgic memories about everything German ... :-)