It’s 4 a.m., and I’m thinking about the election

It’s not promises I want, but inspiration,

I wish I were a politician. But I’m not. I’m just a no-name philosophy professor. The destiny of humankind is in someone else’s hands.

I’m assuming most Quebecers feel powerless, like I do.

I wish I had power to make the world a safer and fairer place to live. I wish I could make it so that all people would thrive and be happy. It’s cheesy, I know, but that’s what I’m hoping for. I listen to the news and all I hear is wildfires, overpopulation and global warming, oceans of garbage, income gaps and investments in warfare and fake news and presidents grabbing pussy. And I feel insignificant, like I am worth nothing at all, like I have no say in how the world turns,

I don’t care who wins the elections, I don’t care for federal or provincial or ethnic divides.

What I care about is that our crooked, unrighteous world be made straight. I’m dead tired of thinking nega- tively about the future. I need leaders who see far ahead, leaders who care about the destiny of all people, leaders who have vision and dream of a better world for all.

Politicians, don’t one-line me. Don’t wedge-politics me. Kick the communications specialists off your teams. You can’t fit me into your statistics. I want a leader who really — really — wants one world for all.

I’m not a millennial.

I’ve seen Clinton and Bush and Obama in the States, I’ve lived through 9-11, I’ve been ruled by Chrétien and Harper and Charest and Marois and Landry and Lucien Bouchard. And as all these leaders have come and gone, I’ve witnessed the fear grow, I’ve seen our heritage spoiled, our planet trashed, billions in arms sold to enemies of democracy.

I’m tired of looking into our future and seeing nothing but death and misery for all of us. I want leaders who will promise and deliver a future we all want.

Politicians have power, they control public finances, they write and amend laws, they matter. And I trust them — I beg them — to rule for the benefit of all.

I need politicians to fight corruption. I need them to protect the environment. I need them to educate the public about the ultimate destructiveness of unrestrained economic growth.

I don’t want to hear promises of prosperity in a dying world. I want Quebec to admit this: we are rich and privileged, we drown in free fresh water and hydroelectricity, we have culture and creativity and diversity and tolerance and science and ethics — we have a duty to show the way, we must be what the world needs us to be, not a meaningless province in a soul-searching Confederation.

I wish for Quebec to be a world leader. Can our politicians give us that?

Our generation has ruined the world — it’s inevitable, our demise.

But it’s not too late to forgive ourselves, to make amends, if only we can rise up to the challenges of the 21st century together.

Can we elect politicians who bring us together to wage the good fight? The fight for worldwide democracy? For worldwide prosperity, if not today then tomorrow, for ourselves and for all?

I have no idea for which party I should vote. I only have this picture in my mind of a leader asking me to devote myself for a cause greater than myself. I don’t want politicians to promise lower taxes and better services. To think of it, maybe I don’t really want politicians making any promises at all.

I wish politicians would inspire me, I want them to lead, I want to follow great people telling me how my insignificant individual efforts fit in the grand scheme of things.

Should I still hope? I will hope — yes I will hope — because that’s the only thing meaningless citizens like myself can do — it is to hope. Micaël Bérubé teaches philosophy at Collège Montmorency.