As the election approaches, we need to remind ourselves that the Constitution is the written guarantee of our liberty and our God-given rights, as well as the embodiment of the rule of law itself. Gradually over time, we have allowed our society to divide into two different levels — one above the law and one subject to the law.

Because power corrupts the mind and the morals, no one who seeks power can be trusted with it. Knowing this, the founders purposefully limited the power of government through a written document — our Constitution.

The Constitution limits the federal government to only 17 powers enumerated in Article 1, Section 8. All powers not so enumerated were reserved to the states or the people. Instead of enforcing the Constitution and limiting government to its enumerated powers, we have slowly allowed the presidency to have unchecked political power, which is destroying the very heart of our nation. We the people are on the verge of losing touch with what made us the greatest nation to ever reside on earth and deliver the most prosperity and the most freedom to the most people in history.

Imagine, if you will, the ship of state moored at the dock in a peaceful harbor. A storm comes and it slips its mooring lines and starts to drift out to sea so that those on the ship can barely see land. Then one day they can no longer see land and they have lost their perspective of where they are. Later they forget that there ever was land.

The two major parties are pushing us further and further away from the constitutional republic that is America. Clinton knows the Constitution but chooses not to consider it, while Trump has no true understanding of what the Constitution is or says. They both make decisions based on their own preferences without regard to the Constitution and grab the power to do so without the consent of the people.

This separation from the vision of what made America great is now affecting everything from economics to foreign policy. Our soul is rotting. Religious liberty is at risk from both the Democrats and Republicans. Over 60 million babies have been murdered by abortion, 4.4 percent of our population is in prison or on parole, one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. One in every eight American men has a criminal record.

According to FBI statistics, 800,000 Americans are murdered, brutally assaulted or raped every year. That’s more than 2,000 per day. It is doubtful that deaths from terrorism will ever approach what Americans are doing to each other daily; yet, fighting terrorism is all we seem to talk about. I am afraid we are like the ship out at sea. We may have drifted so far from the Constitution that we have lost our perspective of who we are.

My presidency would have two goals: to return America to the Constitution and limit the use of political power. In doing that, we could return to sound economic and educational principles, stop abortion, strengthen the family, and together seek God’s will for our nation. We must do these things before it’s too late. I believe it is still possible and I hope you will join me in making it happen.

Darrell Castle is the Constitution Party nominee for president of the United States and an attorney in Memphis, Tennessee. Learn more at Castle2016.com.