“Robert Johnson went to the crossroads, so the story goes, dealing with his guitar, and the Devil took his soul.”

In human lore making a bargain with the Dark Powers to exchange one’s immortal soul for some measure of temporary success, fame or fortune is the stuff of legend. The person entering into such a bargain is usually portrayed as stupid, foolish, evil or some combination of these but never are they shown to be successful and happy as a result of have made the trade.

A slightly deeper analysis would lead one to conclude that anyone who would even contemplate the surrender of the everlasting for the temporary could not possibly believe in the actual existence of that which is immortal and is therefore gaining something concrete in exchange for something they believe to be imaginary. And that leads us directly to the cause of that collection of woes afflicting our planet today, the total abandonment by our leaders of any individual moral code to guide their activities.

Once, in the distant past, we viewed life on this big blue marble as a constant struggle between good and evil. Given that perception is reality, for all practical purposes a very real Devil once battled with very real angels for the souls of man. But with the passage of time we soon became too intelligent, too sophisticated to continue with those ‘fantasies’ and so the Devil and the angels packed their bags and moved off into the dustbin of quaint folklore.

And in losing our concept of a constant battle between the forces of good and evil we lost something vital to our ability to lead meaningful lives, we abandoned our universal moral compass.

Reading Peter Schweitzer’s latest work, “Red Handed,” in which he gives the details of well documented instances of corruption between highly placed members of our government and the Chinese Communist Party it is apparent that no-one involved has any allegiance to ethics, morality or fair play. Truth, fidelity and respect for the law are nowhere to be found.

And closer to home, where is the morality inherent in those within our own government who are actively working to destroy the fabric of this nation? Where is the morality in those companies that include savings generated from slave labor as part of their cost benefit analysis? For that matter, what of those here in America who loudly proclaim the need to pay reparations for past slavery while wearing sneakers manufactured by present day slaves, do they not sense any irony? Can any politician claim the moral high ground while knowingly violating his or her oath to defend and uphold our Constitution? If indeed an oath is sacred then betraying it can be nothing short of evil.

Borrowing from Hindu Monk Vivekanada (circa 1898), “The nation that abandons morality will not survive.” America has by and large abandoned morality and we certainly don’t appear to be on a solid track for survival. Folks, we desperately need an old fashioned revival of the battle between good and evil. Just as opposing sides on a battlefield wore distinctive uniforms, we must adopt a moral stance as our uniform. We must stop regarding those destroying our nation as misguided or feckless and call them out for what they truly are, they are evil personified.

When President Ronald Reagan described the Soviet Union as an evil empire no one accused him of hyperbole. He was accurate then and today it is not hyperbole to say that the forces that have taken de facto control of our planet are the epitome of evil and must be treated as such.

Having met no meaningful resistance over the past century or so this cancer of evil has been allowed to grow and fester. Those who profit from it will not surrender easily but they are not invulnerable. We are in an existential battle for the soul of America, a soul that is not a single entity but a collective of that spirit which animates each patriotic American citizen. There are only two sides in the war of good and evil. The enemy has chosen its side and we can choose to ignore them, to go along to get along or we can choose to take our individual souls off of the bargaining block and fight the good fight.

On the other hand, if you are of the opinion that there is nothing, no aspect of human existence that survives the three score and ten allotted to these meat machines that we use to transport our consciousness then you probably see no real difference between good and evil beyond the expedience of the moment and that evil offers instant gratification and is often more profitable. If so, you’re one of them.

The army of the good is amassing all across the nation and is preparing to march toward the moral high ground and retake our country. Won’t you enlist? And a prayer or two along the way would not go amiss.