Money talks. Should it? Is anyone listening?

Americans go to the polls Tuesday to elect a third of the US Senate and all 435 members of the House of Representatives. Campaign spending has hit record amounts, billions of dollars.

Political advertising alone has crossed the $11 billion mark. And there are lots of expenses besides advertising, adding billions more to the total. There are several dozen countries with smaller GDPs than that. ‘

This sort of spending doesn’t take place in countries that place limits on what money can be given to election candidates. In Canada, for example, Elon Musk, who some people say has a Canadian passport, would be allowed to donate $1,775 to each registered party and the same amount to split among all individual candidates he wished to support. For the US midterms being held tomorrow he has donated $446 million to various Republican candidates and groups.

Does that give Musk a bigger influence on government than the person who kicked in ten dollars to the local candidate? What do you think?

A lot has been written and broadcast about the state of politics in America today. What is obvious to outsiders, and even to some Americans, is that the system in broken. It has been showing cracks for decades, and recent years have accelerated the breakdown.

Can it be fixed? I have my doubts. It isn’t just a systemic problem.

Yes, the US needs to fix how elections are financed. It needs to stop political interference in how the borders of electoral districts are determined. It needs to reexamine how the system of checks and balances envisioned by the country’s founders has failed and how autocracy has been allowed to flourish.

But more than that, Americans have to ask themselves who they want to be. Maybe the electoral and social changes of recent years, the emergence of an America detached from any concept of right and wrong, or justice and compassion, is what the majority want in the 21st century.

This is a country that was founded on lofty ideals that seems to have abandoned them. Certainly the current administration has. An administration that was endorsed by the majority of voters and that has implemented the policies it promised. Donald Trump may be a liar, but he is doing what he promised – people just didn’t believe he was serious.

Despite the rhetoric, I don’t see Tuesday’s vote as especially pivotal for the USA. True change comes not at the ballot box but with individuals. Structural change and healing comes when the people want it enough to ensure it happens.

Is America at that point yet? My heart wishes it was. My gut says it isn’t going to happen. Do you have an opinion?