The commonality is that we have lost all of these in Washington, DC. We have lost our moral way in this country. In recent years there has been an erosion of trust in most of our once-stalwart institutions. Confidence in the President and Congress has hit all-time lows and the current economic crisis has uncovered the worst side of large segments of corporate America.

There is so much corruption, it can be seen in our Justice Department, the contracting of federal jobs, the giveaways and the quid pros quos. It is all of that and more and the cause is lack of enforcement and the turning of heads.

As disaffection has grown, more and more emphasis has been placed on reestablishing a sense of trust.

“Trust” is a fragile concept.  It has many components and its establishment takes many steps over time.  But it can be destroyed almost instantly by a single step in the wrong direction.  One of the most important ingredients required is “integrity.”   Merriam-Webster defines this elusive trait as: “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.

We have become a country in which it is not our elected officials that run the country it is the lobbyists with their special interests. For instance Congress, after many stormy sessions, finally approves a $700 billion bail-out bill.  Despite the serious state of affairs in our nation, almost $100 billion in pork was added, both to buy Congressional votes (a practice that would be illegal in an election) and because it’s the Congressional thing to do (buying future votes from constituents).  The bill included benefits for a Wisconsin maker of wooden arrows, auto racetrack owners, the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum industry, U.S. wool fabric producers and Alaskan fishermen, among others.

There was then the repeat performance in the passing of the $787 billion stimulus package. Packaged together hidden deep in the thousand plus pages was pork, pork, pork everywhere none of which was about stimulating our economy it was about the purchase of future votes from constituents.

The Obama administration did not set the pace for change when it comes to integrity that is certain, just look at the many appointments from the Obama administration and the issues:

Timothy Geithner, Tom Daschle, Ron Kirk, Nancy Killefer, and a number of others who didn’t make it to the nomination stage — all have been felled, or tainted, by unpaid tax bills ranging from a few hundred dollars to more than $140,000.

Al Franken, who just finished a marathon fight with incumbent GOP Sen. Norm Coleman for Minnesota's Senate seat, failed to pay at least $70,000 in taxes to 17 states prior to running for office.

After the first few cases, Republican Rep. Eric Cantor quipped that “it’s easy for the Democrats to sit here and advocate higher taxes because you know what? they don’t pay them.” A funny statement to a serious matter plaguing this administration.

In addition to the tax evaders we have:

Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois was arrested and charged with conspiracy and soliciting bribes. He was charged among other things for trying to sell for self profit the seat left open by President Obama.

Then Charlie Rangel House Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means who the New York Post has reported did not declare the income that he earned from an apartment building in the Caribbean that he and several major campaign contributors are invested in.

Add to the list New Mexico Governor Richardson who had to officially withdraw his nomination as Commerce Secretary amid investigation for a home state pay to play scandal brewing.

and the list goes on.......

If we are ever to regain integrity and the trust of this nation this cannot repeat itself.

We cannot let the mystique of big markets and fast money woo us into looking the other way when corporate execs invent their bottom line. We have to let the American dream put us to sleep when we should have been wide awake about too-good-to-be-true mortgages. We have lost the system of accountability. Who was watching the CEOs as they inflated their year-end reports? Who was watching the brokers as they slipped astronomical interest rates into contracts in tiny almost miniscule print?

The only way things are going to change is if we establish standards of integrity and enforce them.  But here too the record is spotty.  Too many people don’t get involved thinking someone else will take care of things.  Yet how many Americans have been affected, negatively, by current events for which they had no responsibility, no input, and probably no knowledge until it was too late? Complacency by many cost us the economy we see today.  It is time to get involved America and there are no better ways to do it than by letting leadership (government and corporate) know one’s views and by voting.

We must return to integrity and put pressure on our government and corporate leaders, our employers and colleagues, to do the same.

Join with us America to protect your rights, your country, and your money. We are ready to defend our rights and tell the truth the liberal main stream media won’t tell you.  Comment here and email us at YourVoice@speaknowconservatives.org. Help us and be part of bringing our Great Christian country back.