Elections, Rulership, and Decorating Pigs

The governments of the world are fascinating. Today’s society revolves around either dictatorships, a pseudo-monarchy, or democratic governorship (such as the democratic republic system that the United States of America uses).

It is a commonly-held belief that the people have the right to choose their leaders and that removing one’s ability to vote is tantamount to humans rights violations and indicative of a corrupt governmental system that needs to be overthrown.

My, how far we have fallen through the ages…

Secular society teaches that humanity has slowly become more enlightened through the ages. Our technology is more advanced. Our concepts of morality have grown. We have escaped the depravity of a world run by religion and elevated ourselves to the modern day of science and self-deification.

Yikes.

In contrast, Judaism teaches us that we have fallen and become less “enlightened” with each generation.

We left HaShem’s direct leadership for a prophet...
We left the prophets for a monarchy...
We left the monarchy for other nations...

We still have not returned to a state in which we are worthy enough to have a temple. We are so ritually impure that we don’t know as much, have less a grasp on the universe, and lack the wisdom to see beyond the lines of text.

With each passing year we grow farther into exile and away from the concept of a world worshipping only HaShem. The secular world never lost its addiction to idolatry – they just replaced the idols of Baal and Moloch with MTV, the Super Bowl, Shark Tank, 50 Cent, and more…

We are not slowly coming into a more ordered world – we are spiraling away from it. The world is not becoming more civilized, decent, or evolved – it is simply changing how it looks.

You can put makeup on a pig but it will still be a pig…

Nonetheless, we have the obligation of din malchusa din…follow the land of the law (as long as we do not violate Torah mitzvos in order to do so). So, then, we work, we pay taxes, we vote…and we hope for a better tomorrow.

America today isn’t a glorious thing – it’s a far degree of separation from HaShem. While we have a civic duty to vote and contribute to society, we need to remember that one day we’ll be back in the form of government we were meant to be in – one that has a king serving HaShem, only in charge of civil matters, with a holy priesthood in charge of spiritual matters.

The choices of election season and struggles from the pandemic can create feelings of moshiach coming soon…but there’s a lot left that still needs to occur before that can happen. Hopefully soon, we’ll be there and can leave the madness of an electoral college or popular vote behind, returning to a more pure form of rulership. It’s not quite a monarchy, but it’s definitely not a dictatorship and not a democratic republic.

But what’s the takeaway for here and now?
Don’t put makeup on a pig. Just get rid of it.