Recently a letter was published titled, "Future leaders must be God-fearing" (Feb. 5). All of the writer's points were good; however, there are a couple of things that need to be added.

The basis for our democracy is our Constitution that, during the past few years, has been stomped on in the name of protecting our way of life. Should we expect Iraq or any other country to accept our form of democracy without first accepting a constitution similar to the one our Founding Fathers drew up? That doesn't seem reasonable.

George Washington said, "Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any others."

Mike Evans, in his book The Final Move Beyond Iraq, said, "America, the noble experiment, is under siege. The tidal wave of evil is sweeping over our nation: the self-injuring, spirit-destroying, conscious-searing practices of pornography, abortion, homosexuality, and drug and alcohol abuse are being supported as they never have been before. There is a vicious moral and spiritual war raging in the hearts and minds of Americans."

Should we not win that war in our own country before trying to sell or force our form of democracy on someone in the part of the world where Iraq sits? The desire is noble, but I question if we really have the leaders qualified to lead such a change.

We seem to have problems with many moral issues for which we are unsuccessfully seeking solutions in our own beloved country. Save the United States before attempting to save the part of the world that our leaders say want our saving grace.

Jim Shoffner, Augusta