Financing Politics: right or wrong?

When it comes to politics, it seems now more than ever we have to be very critical of every candidate.  With all the money that is being pumped into politics, it is frustrating that we still deal with politicians who promise things yet do not deliver.  One of the points brought up by Newton N. Minow, author of “A Vaster Wasteland”, is that we should not be investing so much money into how much airtime a delegate receives.  He makes some very interesting arguments.  Candidates have to raise obscene amounts of money to have their voice heard; this just seems unconstitutional.  And with things like the equal time rule, should we not allow candidates airtime without forcing them to raise all sorts of money.   Now I do see the other side of this argument as well.  It seems that around election time, we are drowning in political ads.  Would it not be worse if candidates were not forced to raise money to fund them? But if candidates were not so limited on time, maybe we would here more honest and reasonable debates, with reachable goals.  With more time to explain themselves, we would not have to vote based on a character they portray, but the candidate they would actually be.  I try to stay invested in politics and take pride in voting, but I can see how a person would rather just turn the television off rather than participate in the circus it sometimes portrays.  It is difficult to decide who is the best when you are constantly questioning the integrity of a candidate.  I just hope that one day we can find a middle ground for honest politics that does not involve spending millions of dollars that could be put to use elsewhere.