Musings from a recent email - First post on Questioning with Boldness

I frequently exchange emails with a close friend of mine to discuss current events published in the news and mainstream media. We usually stick to economics, finance, taxes and how they relate to the current GOP Presidential candidates. The excerpt below is from one such exchange discussing Ron Paul's recently unveiled economic plan. Overall, I think Paul's plan has some positives, but I also think it is missing some key points as well. I will discuss the finer points of his plan in a later post. For now I would like to share with you part of my email, discussing the larger issue underlying much of the problems America faces.

--I think all the candidates (with the exception of Rick Santorum) are short sighting their view on the economic situation. Sure, the country is wreck, and there are a lot of things we need to change (tax policy, etc...) to get things back on track. But in the grand scheme of things, they are really only patches for a much larger problem. I agree with Santorum that the root of our problems in this country is ourselves, and the America family. We need to first focus on fixing our homes and our families before we can start fixing the country. Value systems have largely eroded in the last 75-100 years, and I don't think the majority of people in this country truly understand what it means to be an American. Our founders had principled beliefs in a higher power, and that their existence on this Earth was all part of a much larger scheme (God's plan). And yes, while we do have the physical distinction between powers of church and state, I do not believe that means there is a separation between the values that come out of faith, and the state. We really need to press pause for a while and do some self reflection. Ask the hard questions. Is this the America that our founders had intended for us, or have we perverted their message? What do we need to do to restore America, so that the same promises laid out generations before us will have an opportunity to appear once again for those that will succeed us in time. It all goes back to the American family, and fixing our home. Only then can we make truly principled decisions. As Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence - "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor". How can a system of government, built on a belief in divine providence, survive without those same values and principles? "A house divided against itself cannot stand" ~ Abraham Lincoln.--