Doug Keith

State College

Many Americans who value faith, family and personal responsibility are deeply concerned about the direction of our country. We now face a situation where a national leader–one convicted of sexual crimes and long associated with individuals involved in child exploitation–asks us to overlook conduct that would never be acceptable in our own homes or churches. When someone proclaims religiosity while acting in ways that contradict core moral teachings, it threatens the credibility of faith itself.

The more Christians embrace a leader who disregards these standards, the more we risk weakening public trust in religion as a cornerstone of American culture. When any president pressures the military or police to suppress peaceful citizens, we drift from the constitutional republic our founders built and toward the kind of centralized authority conservatives have always opposed.

As power becomes politicized, respect for law enforcement and national institutions erodes. Patriotism withers when citizens feel their freedoms–speech, protest and bodily autonomy–are no longer secure. Those who speak up for constitutional limits are increasingly targeted, while government agencies are now being reshaped into tools of personal retaliation.

History shows that when a leader centralizes power and suppresses dissent, economic decline and loss of liberty follow. America has always stood for individual rights, moral accountability and limited government. If we abandon those principles now, the nation we love may become unrecognizable.

For the sake of our country’s future, we must return to leadership grounded in integrity, humility and respect for the Constitution.