When George Washington was twelve years old his father died; he caught smallpox at nineteen, recovered; leading the Continental Army endured Valley Forge, suffered defeats, won Yorktown, after the Revolution refused to be made King.

Abraham Lincoln lost his mother when he was nine; poor, as a boy he worked, handed money he earned to his father; he left home at 21, fell in love, the woman he loved died. Seven years later, he married, had four sons, two died. At the end of the Civil War in his last inaugural address he spelled out the road to healing, “With malice toward none, with charity for all…”

Franklin Roosevelt prayed for soldiers on D-Day. After we lost the Vietnam War, Reagan led us to victory in the Cold War.

Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Reagan didn’t mold Americans, they mirrored Americans – they shared American’s virtues, prayed, reflecting American’s faith.

After the Soviet Union fell apart America was the most powerful nation on earth. Threats vanished. People heaved a sigh of relief. A long, slow decline began. Virtues waned. Faith ebbed. You can see the change in politics: Politicians grasping for power is an old story but there were once lines in the sand no politician crossed – not because he was noble but because he was afraid of the price he’d pay.

Lying was a line in the sand.

Democrats shunned Lyndon Johnson when he lied about the Vietnam War. Republicans shunned Nixon when he lied about Watergate.

Today politicians lie, people cheer. How did that happen? Where did we go wrong?

After the Cold War, as the new global economy boomed, Washington politicians made deals with lobbyists, handed corporations favors, jobs moved overseas. Millionaires, Wall Street, got rich, then richer. Blue collar families fell into hard times. In the 2016 Republican primary dispossessed working men stared at a dozen Washington Politicians and one man nobody confused with a politician on debate stages: Donald Trump.

Before the Indiana primary Trump told Fox News that Ted Cruz’s father was with Lee Harvey Oswald before Oswald assassinated John Kennedy – people hating politicians cheered Trump’s lie. An old taboo collapsed. Trump beat Cruz, went on to beat Hillary, but Trump didn’t fix broken politics – he simply created a new breed of politician. America sank deeper into a pit.

Four years later, standing on a debate stage, Trump faced another Washington Politician. Joe Biden won. Trump howled the election was stolen. People cheered another lie.

We’re trapped between two kinds of politicians: Showmen and Washington Dealmakers. But remember: Politicians don’t mold Americans – they mirror Americans. The problem’s not politicians – the problem’s America’s lost virtues, that hand showmen and dealmakers power.

Ronald Reagan read C.S. Lewis, Malcolm Muggeridge, Whitaker Chambers, a Christian he talked about faith in speeches, warned: “Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that only tells us what the senses perceive. Without God there is a coarsening of society. And without God democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”

America needs a spiritual rebirth – to restore lost virtues. Pray lost souls see the light.