Sad to say, but the U.S. presidential election of 2012 is already under way. Never mind the fact that the election won't take place for another year and a half, this week several candidates announced they are off and running, while others announced that they will not run this year. Others are keeping the political pundits in suspense. In 1960 the candidates did not announce their intentions or begin running until spring, barely six months prior to the election.

What has caused the change? In part, it is money. President Obama has already stated that he needs to raise one billion dollars for a campaign. That's right, one billion dollars will be spent by one candidate to get elected to an office that pays .025 percent of that each year as a salary. It takes a lot of time to raise that kind of money and spend it on advertisements and events.

Voters will be swamped and smothered by advertisements. As most of us know, political advertisements rarely stick to the facts and often contain malicious half-truths, false accusations or slander of some kind. What is obvious is that we are dealing with the same problems year after year. Few problems ever seem to get solved. Men know how to talk about problems, but lack the courage and integrity to solve them. The solution often is to spend more money with good intentions and dubious results, but western nations are running out of money. Nearly sixty percent of the U.S. population is living off of a government check of some kind, and the percentage that does not pay income taxes is almost larger than those who do. A study of the history of nations reveals that financial collapse follows moral collapse, which we have witnessed for many years.

What kind of leader would God choose for us if we were a righteous nation? The answer is given by Jethro, Moses' father in law, in Exodus 18. Moses could not handle all of the decisions brought to him, so Jethro counseled him to appoint captains of 10, 50, 100 and 1,000 families. Israel had its first formal organization: "Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens" (Exodus 18:21).

Notice that these men were to have four qualities: 1. Men of ability, 2. Fearing God, 3. Men of truth and 4. Hating bribery or unjust gain. Would it not be wonderful if we had such men governing nations today! Instead, in all too many cases our systems bring out the venal, narcissistic, proud, ambitious, dishonest, godless, bribe-giving and taking, arrogant and self-centered types. Character matters, always. God said so.

There are still many genuine servants of our nation and others in positions of governance, but they appear to be in the minority and becoming fewer all the time. Just as it was in Ancient Rome, so it is with us today. Rome lasted over 300 years after the moral decay had set in as reflected in its leaders. Due to modern communication our decline has accelerated much faster and our end result will be here before many people realize what is taking place.

For more on this subject about choosing leaders, and for some startling answers, watch our video program titled: "Could Jesus Be Elected President?"or read the Good News magazine article, "Could Jesus Christ Be Elected President?".