Never the dependency on private money for politics.

1. The dependenccy on private money for politics, and the general bad state, arguably has stuctural reasons, too.

2. As Migeru noted, there are other federal models around.

3. Personally, I don't see much sense in a diretly elected Senate, when there are governments already. Either way, I would like to see the power of the body representing the federated territorial units reduced relative to the body representing all citizens of the federation.