Of God and government; cars and cell phones

There is a song from my misguided youth that too often seems to sum up my theology.
It was recorded by Janis Joplin, entitled "Mercedes Benz."
The lyrics are:

Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz.
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends.
So oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz.
Oh lord won't you buy me a color TV.
Dialing for Dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until 3.
So oh lord won't you buy me a color TV.
Oh lord won't you buy me a night on the town.
I'm counting on you lord, please don't let me down.
Prove that you love me and buy the next round.
Oh lord won't you buy me a night on the town.
Everybody, Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz.
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends.
So oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz.

The song, recorded a Capella, was one of the last ever recorded by Joplin. (and as an aside, I wonder how many people remember "Dialing for Dollars?")

Anyway, too many times I find myself "praying" something all too similar to this song (although with nothing close to the voice of the last Ms. Joplin). I guess it's just part of human nature - or at least my human nature - to keep coming back to God with what I think He could do for me to make me happy (as if that's His purpose in creating this universe we live in).

Maybe because God has disappointed us in our feeble prayers, I wonder if many in this country haven't substituted "government" for God, as in this well-publicised video from the recent presidential election:

Now, a lot of people are concerned about separation of church and state. But as this country becomes less "church" (as various polls and statistics say) I can't help but wonder if there isn't a transference of faith as we look to government to answer our prayers, in effect putting our trust in whoever is in power (and this isn't about Democrats or Republicans) to provide what we "need."

We can argue all day about who failed whom; whether it was God or the government. Certainly we can argue that the Church should have done more, but then maybe that would have constituted the church getting involved in an area the state took greater responsibility for in 1964 with then-president Lyndon Johnson's declaration of a "War on Poverty" that begat a host of official government programs to provide for those below the poverty line.

This country was founded by people who were trying to get away from government and the class system of Europe, who wanted to succeed or fail on their own merits. But the simple fact is that as people begin to live together in cities, and as this country moved from an agrarian society to an urban society (which really didn't happen until the early 1900s) so too did government move from state's rights to a more centralized federal government.
But rather than get bogged down in a history lesson - knowing full well that while historical facts are finite, the interpretation of those facts seems to be infinite - I decided it was a good excuse to bring back a little Janis Joplin, and wonder if she were alive today, would she be asking God or the President for her Mercedes Benz?