J.A. Matteson
The decline of America is not foremost rooted in destructive economic policy, rather it is rooted in a spiritual decline that has inverted the idea of freedom. No longer do men yearn to be free in order that they may be responsible to develop their own God given talents and fortunes. Instead they desire to be free from individual responsibility and demand that society take care of them. This is a spiritual malignancy. This is the root of socialism. John Adams stated in 1798 that "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." The economic ills besetting the United States today are in large measure the result of socialistic policies advanced by politicians pandering to an electorate demanding state solutions to their lot in life rather than assuming personal responsibility for their own destiny. America cannot be restored economically until and unless she is first restored spiritually.