We Need to Rethink our Moral Foundation

Last week, North Korea launched a missile that lasted less than two minutes in flight before falling apart and dropping into the sea.

For months, we have known they were working toward a time when they would test fire a rocket. The nations of the world through the United Nations — the most useless organization on the planet — had issued warnings to the regime in Pyongyang not to test the rocket launch, to no avail.

The test firing had been timed to fit into the celebration on Sunday marking the 100^th birth of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung, according to media reports. Foreign policy observers were critical of the Obama administration for their talks with North Korea promising food shipments to the rogue nation in exchange for inspection visits to insure that North Korea was not developing the technology used in launching weapons against other nations.

In recent months, there has been much media coverage of the fact that Iran is near to having a launch of missiles against Israel. President Obama has urged Israel not to conduct a preventative strike against Iran. These two events, along with the reality of the uprisings in the Arab world, continue to point to the takeover by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and other Arab countries, which continues to fuel talk that the current foreign policies of the administration in Washington are making the world less safe.

With those types of troubling issues surfacing in our foreign policy venues, and the continual rise in gasoline costs in our country, and with rising unemployment, it is hard to imagine what the next crisis will be for our nation. However, I am being told by friends and some national political observers that for the most part, people are not paying attention to any of these events. More often now, we are hearing that people want to be left alone as long as the government provides for them while they care very little what is happening in other countries or even other states.

With the self-absorbed culture in all levels of society, we are being told that the traditional conservative issues of family, moral ethical behavior and life no longer play into the thought processes of people as they make a decision as to the person who will receive their vote.

As one person said to me recently, “Morals are gone and no longer matter when it comes to who receives my vote or support.”

We certainly see that attitude displayed in other nations as they enslave their people and make plans to destroy other countries. The value of life rises and falls only if there is a perceived value for the government. With that attitude spreading in our nation, one must wonder how much longer we can survive as a free people. I would argue that we must have a moral compass to direct our thinking and our decisions. From where I stand, we need to rethink our moral foundation.

Do you consider a candidate's morals before you vote? Tell us in comments. 

Follow Ray Newman on Twitter — @RayNewmanSr.