• Disaster rescuers are frightened away from saving people from floodwaters by gunfire.

• Despite repeated warnings that New Orleans faces devastation from a major hurricane, a significant percentage of residents and tourists remain in the city rather than evacuate with 48 hours notice.

• New Orleans residents, including some police officers, are videotaped calmly looting stores after the city is destroyed.

• Shelters set aside for the victims of Katrina turn into the most dangerous places to be as the strong prey on the weak.

We live in a world – and increasingly a country – where up is down, right is left, black is white and right is wrong.

It's just like in the book of Judges where we read about every man doing what's right in his own eyes.

In other words, the lesson of New Orleans is that too many Americans have lost their ability to govern themselves.

When we lose that ability to take personal responsibility for our own lives and those of our family members, the only alternative is for government to step in and take that responsibility for us.

That is no longer self-government – the kind of revolutionary system of behavior and freedom given to us by our founders – it is pure coercion, pure force.

That's where we are today – in the post-Katrina era. We are at the mercy of the elements, our enemies and the government.

Self-government is dependent, at the very least, on the ability of people to distinguish right from wrong. It is undeniable that Americans are losing that ability.

Forces within our society have been persuading Americans – through the schools, the universities, movies, TV shows, advertisements, the press, pseudo-scientific research and a thousand other means – that there is no objective truth, that there is no ultimate morality, that there is no authority higher than government to which we as individuals are accountable.

These forces now represent a greater danger to us as a nation and as individuals than do all foreign threats combined.

For certain, as Katrina illustrates, far more Americans are dying as a result of this unholy relativist, ultra-secularist jihad than are being killed by the Islamist holy warriors.

There is only one thing that can right this listing American ship of state. The church needs to become re-engaged in our society – to take a leadership role. Pastors and rabbis need to speak out boldly and preach personal responsibility in our culture. Faithful leaders need to put timidity and self-consciousness aside and talk about right and wrong.

We need to hear about sin, again. We need to hear about eternal consequences for our actions. We need to hear about good and evil.

Jews and Christians alike need to reclaim the soul of this country.

The Founding Fathers knew that even the best designed government wouldn't work if the people were not righteous, moral and God-fearing – if they didn't love liberty and cherish it.

To practice self-government again, we must have a people capable of self-government. Today, our population has been so dumbed-down by government schools, television, movies and the sad state of the press establishment that we are getting the kind of government we deserve.

We're moving toward tyranny.

The War of Independence was fought 229 years ago principally over the issues of sovereignty and self-government.

These are two concepts that have been obliterated from the debate today. The war was fought so that we in America would have the ability and right to govern ourselves as individuals and that our individual states would have sovereignty with little interference from London, Washington or anywhere else.

Do we have that today?

In 1776, Americans were much freer to govern themselves, and the states had less accountability to the crown than they do today to Washington. Today, Washington is God.

Does America have the courage to recover the freedom it has lost in the last 200 years?

Freedom isn't about prescription drug plans dictated by Washington. Freedom isn't about more laws. Freedom isn't about a false security promised by your federal government. Freedom isn't about being numbered from cradle to grave. Freedom isn't about having your wealth confiscated by government before you even cash your paycheck. Freedom isn't about the government mis-educating your child. Freedom isn't about United Nations peacekeeping missions. Freedom isn't about more cops on the beat.

Freedom, ultimately, is about the liberation of the individual to run his or her own life with minimal interference from government. Self-government. Period. End of story.

That was the goal of our founders in 1776. It ought to be our goal again today.

Are we worthy? Are we capable? Katrina's aftermath gives me grave doubts.