Within the week we hopefully will know the outcome of what seems to me “the most consequential presidential election of my lifetime.” While that phrase may sound like typical election hyperbole, the growing sense of angst I feel is due to what I see as a national identity crisis. Who are we, really?

That question will not be answered fully by this election outcome, but it will surely reveal how a record number of voters cast their ballot to express who we are, and to shape who we want to become. I’ve not known an election when so many choices have been so clearly delineated:

Will abortion decisions be made by women and physicians, or by legislators and judges?

Will we establish Christianity as the national religion, either implicitly or explicitly?

Will hopeful immigrants find here an asylum of welcome and opportunity, or a wall of rejection and mass deportation?

Will participants in the Capitol riot of January 6,2020 be exonerated as patriots, or will they face the consequences of insurrection and violence?

Will the standard of “no one is above the law” be upheld, or dismantled?

Will we affirm the national motto of e pluribus unum, or will we discourage diversity and dissent?

Will we align ourselves internationally with democracies, or with despots?

Will we retain a balance of power between the three branches of government, or will the executive branch subsume the legislative and judicial?

Will our response to global warming be one of awareness and action, or denial and delay?

Will we uphold, or withdraw, from our international partnerships and our identity as global citizens?

Will we welcome, or suppress, forthright assessments of our national history?

Will the new administration institute loyalty tests, or model itself on Lincoln’s diverse “team of rivals” approach?

Granted, there’s no such thing as a neutral question. And these questions are admittedly binary. Life is much more yes/and, than either/or. And when posed in such black-and-white terms it’s evident that there’s a vast grey area between the extremes.

Nonetheless, these questions have helped me consider the trend lines they reveal.

Who are we, and who do we want to become?

It may sound odd to ask such questions as our nation nears its 250th birthday, but it seems to me we’re in a midlife crisis. This all too often leads to some very poor life decisions. I can only hope that the angst I now feel will in the long run be remembered as growing pains.