In less than a week the nation of China will choose its new generation of leadership, and that will include a great deal of Generation Xers. Currently, China is being governed by a phony populist who pretends regard for the common good even as he and his family have acquired billions of dollars worth of property [1]. China is not a democracy, but it has the government it deserves. Corruption is widespread in society, and the Chinese people have never managed to escape either rapacious warlords with unstable governments or dictators of some stripe (whether emperors or communists or nationalists). Plenty of other nations are in the same boat. Having a majority vote does not make a government good, it just means that a majority of people support a given position or party or person.

I have a lot to say about today’s election day and what it means. I’m fairly pessimistic about my country today–given that we appear to be addicted to loot from the government, are completely unconcerned about moral concerns (or worse, glorify the right to commit murder on their unborn children), are showing a greater interest in legalized drug growing and use, and have no interest in government sticking to its means. Interestingly enough, despite claiming to hate gridlock, by voting for the Congress that we have to continue as it is, continued gridlock (including a very possible fiscal cliff) is nearly guaranteed. There is no way either side is going to back down now. Except four more years of no budgets, of runaway deficits, and of continued political hostility.

That said, there is at least something we can all takeaway from this campaign, and that is that we are deeply divided and that there is no going forward until we figure out who we are and what we really want. This is not only true in the United States, but it is true all over the world. All over the Middle East, electorates are turning in radical Islamic governments. All over Europe governments that seek austerity and fiscal responsibility get thrown out by voters for those who promise freedom from responsibility. Even when it comes time to pay the piper, all too often people refuse to accept to pay the price themselves. Our great generations and societies have always been willing to pay a price for the common good, whether that price was in blood and treasure. We lack that kind of nobility today.

There are no easy solutions to these problems. A nation gets the government it deserves. If we want to find better government we have to deserve better. That means we have to work hard, and do our best to see others as they are and not as the worst projection of our fears. We have to be willing to vote with our minds and not just our ovaries, or the color of our skin. There is going to be some misplaced gloating on a day like this, as well as some soul searching for some. But I see no call for national repentance for our sins, only a hardening of our hearts against opportunities to turn back from our path towards self-destruction. So we get the leaders we deserve. We get the conflict we claim to hate, we get the debt we claim to bemoan, and we end up ever more rapidly approaching the place where our government will be unable to fulfill the obligations we demand from it in the absence of functioning institutions.

And if we desire to avoid those problems, we are going to have a lot of rebuilding to do. We need to rebuild families, communities, churches, and other institutions. We are going to have to examine what it is we really desire from our government and what price we are willing to pay for it. Either that or we can waltz by the graveyard, hoping against hope that everything will all of the sudden get better, that time alone, in the absence of wisdom, can overcome our difficulties. Those who expect their government to save them from their problems wake up from their slumber only to find out that their government has created a hell on earth. And there will be no time to save us from ourselves at that time. But no one forced us into this trouble; we have done it to ourselves.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/10/28/phony-populist-in-chief/