New York Times Columnist Bob Herbert wrote an editorial June 21 titled "When Greatness Slips Away" It has been reprinted in every major newspaper and has been talked about around the world. After describing our blown opportunities in dealing with the 9/11 attack, Hurricane Katrina, the great economic crisis and now the BP oil catastrophe, he writes: "As a nation, we are becoming more and more accustomed to a sense of helplessness. We no longer rise to the great challenges before us. It's not just that we can't plug the oil leak. We can't seem to do much of anything." "The city of Detroit is using federal money to destroy thousands upon thousands of empty homes, giving in to a sense of desperation that says there is no way to rebuild the city, so let's destroy even more of it. Lots more of it..." "...The June 28 cover story of Time magazine is headlined "The Broken States of America." The states are facing a catastrophic fiscal situation that is short-circuiting essential services, pushing even more people out of work and undermining the feeble national economic recovery." As Time reported: "Schools, health services, libraries -- and the salaries that go with them -- are all on the chopping block as states and cities face their worst cash squeeze since the Great Depression." We are submitting to this debacle with the same pathetic lack of creativity and helpless mindset that now seems to be the default position of Americans in the 21st century. We have become a nation that is good at destroying things -- with wars overseas and mind-bogglingly self- destructive policies here at home -- but that has lost sight of how to build and maintain a flourishing society. How is it possible that we would let this happen? We've got all kinds of sorry explanations for why we can't do any of the things we need to do...Meanwhile, the greatness of the United States, which so many have taken for granted for so long, is steadily slipping away. I still believe in America! I still believe in the Spirit of America. But I believe that Spirit is slowly slipping away, and I believe I know why! God has declared his standard of greatness for any nation. Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people. Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness is the foundation for the Spirit of America, for the Greatness of America. Sadly, we are losing our foundation of righteousness. William Bennett, in addressing the Midshipmen of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, November 24th, 1997, said: "America is a place of heroes, honor, achievement, and respect. But it is as well a place where far too often, heroism is confused with celebrity, honor with fame, true achievement with popularity, individual respect with political correctness. From inside here you look out at a culture that celebrates self-gratification, the crossing of all moral boundaries, and now even the breaking of all social taboos. And on top of it all, too often the sound you hear is whining – the whining of America, what can be heard only as the enormous ingratitude of modern man toward our unprecedented prosperity and good fortune. Despite our wonders and greatness, we are a society that has experienced so much social regression, so much decadence, in so short a period of time, that in many parts of America we have become the kind of place to which civilized nations used to send missionaries." http://www.chaoticsynapticactivity.com/2006/08/03/does-honor-have-a-future-william-bennett/ Even in 1997, William Bennett was decrying the growing decadence in America, proclaiming that many parts of America are the kinds of places we used to send missionaries to. John Adams foresaw long ago that: "Human passions unbridled by morality and religion...would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net." — John Adams The "Spirit of America" is slipping away like a whale through a net because we have forgotten what Righteousness is! Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people. Proverbs 14:34 There has been much debate about the religious beliefs of our Founding Fathers. Regardless of what you believe about their religious beliefs, all the writings we have indicate that our founding Father's knew what "Righteousness" was. They knew what morality and virtue was. They believed that the Bible was the Word of God and that Righteousness and morality and virtue are all defined within its pages. The 1828 Webster's Dictionary defined righteousness: "Purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law. Righteousness, as used in Scripture and theology, in which it is chiefly used, is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. It includes all we call justice, honesty and virtue, with holy affections; in short, it is true religion." Webster concluded that righteousness is conformity to the divine law, and in short is true rel