We are facing a crisis in these United States of America. It is not a Democrat crisis, it is not a Republican crisis nor is it a crisis of recent origin. We are faced with a crisis in ethics, morality and spirituality and this crisis has been growing in strength and magnitude for well over a century.

During a lecture series delivered in London, England, in 1896, Swami Vivekananda said, “the nation that abandons chastity will not survive.” A simple statement based on his Yoga beliefs. A simple statement but one that carries a profound truth not only for America but for all the developed nations of the world.

The USA as we know it today has traveled very far from the vision of the founding fathers. The original European settlers on this continent were fleeing religious persecution, not religion itself. Spirituality and a firm belief in a Supreme Being were so engrained in their daily lives that they could not imagine a world in which morals and ethics, dictated by God, would be absent.

As to our founding fathers, quoting Benjamin Franklin, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

And John Adams, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

If John Adams is correct then the Constitution of the United States is wholly inadequate for governing the 21st century America. This nation has been tossing morals and ethics to the wayside for many decades and seems hell bent on eliminating any official recognition of decency and respect as being necessary for promoting the common good of its citizens or enforcing the notion of equal justice for all.

I have lived long enough to have witnessed a sea-change in the nation’s approach to morality. During the mid nineteen-fifties, in my hometown, a city that had at the time three daily newspapers, there once were banner headlines in each of the newspapers, all with slight variations saying, “Teens Found Dead in Love Nest.” The stories explained that a pair of high school students had somehow “managed to rent an apartment” and were killed accidentally by a gas leak in a space heater. This event, which was discussed for weeks, would probably not rate more than paragraph, buried deep within any of today’s newspapers. Sexually active teenagers has become the norm.

Sex Ed in school back then consisted chiefly of lectures on the mortal dangers of sexually transmitted disease, and for the girls the importance of chastity and for the boys proper respect for girls. Today it’s placing condoms on cucumbers.

There are efforts afoot in America to normalize pedophilia. Until his death while in custody the reigning king of pedophiles was Jeffery Epstein. By all accounts he amassed a sizable fortune enticing fellow pedophiles into sexual relations with underage partners, recording the activities and then blackmailing his clients. The unanswered question though is, given that his records and the evidence he kept in order to facilitate his illicit income stream were all captured by law enforcement quite a few months ago, where are the charges and prosecutions of those who were on those tapes? Further, where is the outcry from an enraged public that their law enforcement communities would turn a blind eye to such heinous crimes. The silence is damning.

Although the 1st amendment to the Constitution was written to guarantee freedom of religion it is now interpreted as freedom from religion.

Currently the African American population stands at 13.4% compared to an estimated 14.1% in 1940. While other minority populations are rising it would seem that the African American is losing ground. Could that present a truth in the popular saying that the most dangerous place for a black baby is in it’s mother’s womb? Margaret Sanger seems to have won that round, even to the extent that we are now discussing the legality of postpartum abortion.

Corruption in our government, all levels, is epidemic and no longer even hidden. For a little light reading on that subject research Iran-Contra. A government that will “smuggle” drugs into it’s own country and distribute them to street gangs for resale cannot be other than corrupt. One name currently in the news, also involved in Iran-Contra, was AG William Barr. A CIA operative at the time, he took the code name
“Robert Johnson.” For those unfamiliar with blues music, Robert Johnson was a guitarist in the 1930’s who claimed to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his musical gifts. Was Mr. Barr signaling his opinion of the deal he made to engage in the spreading of drug poison to his fellow Americans?

I would submit that any person who enters political office, elected or appointed, at an early age, does nothing else for a career, creates no jobs, produces no product, has only a government salary to rely on, yet manages to amass a fortune, has to be suspect.

A comprehensive study of abandoned morals and ethics and the systemic corruption not only in government but also media, entertainment, education and business, would fill several large volumes. But for anyone interested in pursuing the subject the sources are readily available and are searchable with little effort. As stated above, the corruption and lack of ethics is now so widespread that the perpetrators, facing no repercussions, don’t bother to cover up their activities.

Al Capone, the famed gangster, leaving a courthouse where a judge had just ruled against him said, “it used to be that when you bought a judge the son of a bitch stayed bought.” Today Capone would probably be one of judges.

In conclusion I would like to visit another of our founders, Thomas Jefferson. “We in America do not have government by the majority, we have a government by the majority who participate. All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”

There are absolutes in goodness, kindness, morals and ethics. Our founding fathers referenced those absolutes in all they wrote when crafting the rules for governing the country. Those absolutes are more important today than ever before. We must return to the beliefs that guided us as a young nation struggling toward greatness, abandoned now by so many.

We each must ask ourselves, is this nation currently exhibiting the standard of ethics and morals that we hold for our families and ourselves. If the answer is no then remaining silent is not an option. Choose a venue and join the fight to reclaim the goodness of America.