A Return to Greatness

“America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”[1]

When the founding fathers wrote the Constitution, America was a society based on strong Christian customs, traditions and moral values. People exercised moral discipline; they chose the right because it was right. People served one another and took responsibility for their own actions. They followed God and obeyed the Ten Commandments in all that they did. With these strong customs and adherence to God’s laws, America grew and became the greatest nation on earth.

The founding fathers wrote the constitution to protect the inalienable rights of the people and to insure their freedom. God gave us the Ten Commandments for the same reason. These laws protect, promote and preserve our freedoms and rights. But the constitution and laws only protect our freedoms if we as individuals exercise self-discipline. If we adhere to God’s laws, God blesses us and we become prosperous as individuals and as a nation.

Over the last one hundred years or so, America has slowly pulled away from God. We as a society no longer adhere to the strong customs, traditions and values of early America. We no longer obey the Ten Commandments. We worship celebrities and athletes instead of God. We surround ourselves with the “idols” of our devotion – large homes, luxury cars, costly apparel, and accessorize it all with “bling.” We are no longer a people of our word. Contracts and oaths are just pieces of paper and empty promises. Sundays are just another day of the week for us to play and work. Children no longer honor their parents, but instead are encouraged to leave the family home as soon as possible, often moving far away. We kill unborn babies because it is convenient and remove the elderly from our society to “condemn” them to die lonely deaths in some institution. Marriage covenants are seldom honored if entered into at all. We “take” from the rich who have earned their wealth to “give” to the poor who have not. We surround our homes with tall “privacy” fences and then spread gossip about our neighbors behind them. We go into massive debt trying to “keep up with the Jones’s.” As you can see, not a single commandment is being followed.

“Policemen and laws can never replace customs, traditions, and moral values as a means for regulating human behavior.”[2] If we desire to return to a nation of greatness, we must, as a society, return to God. We must return to the customs, traditions and moral values that encourage self-discipline. This will insure our freedom.

I hope that as a nation, we will wake up to our awful situation. I hope that people will stand with me, to bring our nation back to its former greatness. I hope that we will learn from history. I hope that it will never be said of our society, “We would not accept the yoke of Christ so now we must tremble at the yoke of Caesar.”[3]


[1] Ezra Taft Benson as quoted in The 5000 Year Leap (Cleon Skousen), p 84.
[2] D. Todd Christofferson
[3] Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, as quoted by D. Todd Christofferson, October 4, 2009.