There are two major roadblocks to leadership in America in the early 21st century. First, Republicans and Democrats are involved in "turf wars" at all levels of government. Obtaining and preserving turf has become more important than serving the people. In order to obtain turf, each party blurs its positions on various issues, or takes a strong party line without thinking through the issues. This was evident this past week during a committee hearing on baseball steroid use involving Roger Clemens. Setting aside whether this was a good use of Congressional time for helping address the performance enhancing drug issue in America, I was surprised that it became a partisan issue with Republicans supporting Mr. Clemens and Democrats not.

Second, our country is divided on several moral issues. As a result, the spirit of cooperation and willingness to work together for what is best for our society have been lost. Therefore, we need to take several steps back. The role of the government is to maintain order. Morality should be taught by religious institutions. The government and churches have blurred their roles; the government has tried to legislate morality and the institutional church (as opposed to its members) has gotten directly involved in government and politics. Everything that is legal is not necessarily moral. By focusing on their proper roles, the government and religious institutions will be more effective in fulfilling their purposes - government in maintaining order and religious institutions in worshipping and teaching and promoting morality. By having churches focus on worship, people will presumably have a stronger moral foundation and they will promote such morality in society. Members will also get involved in political/government issues as citizens rather than as representatives of the church. Above all, the people must have their free say. If we reform the electorate, government will be reformed.

The legal issues have been settled on abortion. Roe v. Wade is not going away. If the views of young adults are any indication, the homosexual marriage issue will be settled as the next generation becomes a political force. Those issues need to leave the political scene and be resolved morally by religious institutions, so that other issues can be effectively addressed.