I remember when $100 was a big deal. I was about 5-years-old then.

I remember when $1million dollars seemed like an ungodly amount of dough. I was about 10.

I remember wanting to be a millionare so I could live in a mansion on the beach and surround myself with diamonds, a Roadster and closets full of dresses. This was during the preteen years.

I remember when money seemed to have boundaries, but now it appears to have none.

This election, cycle economists have predicted the presidential and U.S. Congress seats will cost over $5.7 billion.

That is 137,128 times the median income in Oklahoma.

You could buy a billion people a meal with that amount of money.

Heck, you could swim in a sea of dollar bills if you had that kind of money at your disposal.

In four days, all of that money will be gone completely.

In our own state, more than $5.9 million has been given for Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain.

That amount is simply the contributions toward the federal elections alone. We cannot forget about the millions, if not billions, of dollars that go into local races and ballot initiatives.

But one of the most expensive state issues in the nation doesn’t have to do with a candidate at all.

Over $60 million has been spent by people who oppose and people who supporter California’s Proposition 8 to overturn a state supreme court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.

Don’t you think people can make up their minds without someone throwing tens of millions of dollars worth of advertisements, mailings, polls and bumper stickers in their faces?

I’m not meaning to trying to discredit this or any other issues or races that are about to be taken to the voting booths. But look at the numbers.

Too much money is being thrown into elections.

When more than one in every 10 Americans live in poverty, when nearly 15 percent of Americans skip at least one meal a day and when more than one in four Americans cannot afford health care, how can we invest so much money in political races?

The simple answer is this: We are a free society. We are free to chose whether we want to give the money to charity, to contribute to a political campaign, to spend our money on ourselves or to go buy dresses.

But just because we are free to do all these things doesn’t necessarily mean we should.

What would happen to our country if people paid more attention to problems and solutions than to talking heads?

What if they really cared about issues and change every day instead of only one Tuesday in November?

What if more people cared about helping those in need than electing the people who attempt to do that for us?

What would happen if we invested $5.7 billion into feeding those without meals, supporting those without homes or helping to offset medical expenses for those unable to pay their excruciatingly high bills?

Now, I’m not saying spending money on campaigns is stupid.

But people should spend money on things that matter.

Make sure your spending is doing some good.

What is the point of making the big bucks if you can’t help make life better for those who are not as lucky as you?

Rosie Sontheimer is a journalism and women’s studies sophomore. Her column usually appears every other Thursday