We have all seen the self-righteous memes in our social media feeds, and the message is always some variation of the following: American morals are going to hell in a handbasket. Yes, our nation is moral decay, according to a 2015 opinion piece from the National Review. Per the author of that piece, we liberals are hellbent on destroying America, what with our divorcing, single-parenting, social justice-backing, non-educating, homosexual-loving, art-hating ways. He was right, back in 2015, about the morals of this nation being in decay. But the issue with moral decay in this country has little to with divorce, non-traditional family units, rock n’ roll, or hip hop. It also has nothing to do with liberals.

The moral decay we are seeing in this country has everything to do with the Republican Party, and the conservative movement as a whole selling itseld out to put Donald J. Trump in the White House. I have said before that if Trump ran as a Democrat and put out a platform that agreed with me on every position, I still would not have voted for him. Why? Morals, values, and ethics, of which he has none. He is an empty shell devoid of any hint of humanity. His entire life has been spent in pursuit of money. Those riches brought him fame and attractive women, who were used as little more than status symbols to be tossed aside as soon as a younger model came along.

One of the arguments often heard from those on the religious right is that the only way to fix America’s moral crisis is to put God back in our schools, even though it is likely religion was never part of the curriculum in the first place. But which God would be in school, exactly? Surfer Jesus? Mohamed? Buddha? We live in a country where there are hundreds of differing religions, so which one is the one that belongs in schools? For the sake of argument, say we put Christianity in schools: Which flavor? Catholic? Methodist? Baptist? Snake handlers?

Even if you say non-denominational, you are still leaving a lot of people out. Would Muslim or Jewish children feel welcome in a classroom where everyone is bowing their heads in prayer to Jesus? I don’t think so. To say that putting religion in public schools is a bad idea is a monumental understatement. But the moral, self-righteous police of our time will loudly scream that we must do this to save the moral underpinnings of our nation.

They are wrong, of course, as they always have been. The moral failings of this nation have everything to do with these so-called pious, self-righteous Republicans.