Let’s Get Back to Basics!

The Netanyahu government’s judicial reform proposal caused political gridlock in Israel earlier this year. Protestors practically shut the entire Jewish state down for one day in defiance of the proposal.

I experienced the gridlock personally as I guided 50 people through the multilayered security at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv after wrapping up our Up to Jerusalem tour in March. Our flight back to the United States was an hour from departure when our tour guide notified me that protestors had shut down the airport.

Israel’s political problems were spilling over into everyday life. Even tourists were feeling the pain of the political strife. Fortunately, we were homebound only an hour later than scheduled, but Israel was still in an upheaval.

Despite Israel’s political rupture, Passover was just around the corner.

This biblical holiday marks the moment God liberated the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Instead of inflaming discord, Jewish families today put aside their opinions for one day and unite under the banner of God’s deliverance. The Haggadah (Passover guidebook) says, “In every generation, a person is obligated to show himself as if he had left Egypt.” Passover is a national, religious, familial, and social bond that transcends differences—and there are plenty of differing opinions in Israel.

Americans, like Israelis, divide along political and social lines that spill out into our national discourse. The bonds that once held our union intact are disintegrating quickly.

A recent Wall Street Journal/NORC survey found that values like patriotism, religion, and community involvement are in steep decline. Only 38 percent of Americans in 2023 say patriotism is “very important” to them, down from 70 percent in 1998. Twenty-five years ago, 62 percent of Americans considered religion “very important,” while only 39 percent believe it’s significant today.

Now, 30 percent of Americans believe raising children is “very important,” compared to 59 percent in 1998. Meanwhile, the share of Americans who consider involvement in their community as “very important” fell to 27 percent, down from a high of 62 percent in 2019.

Faith, family, and patriotism hold our social fabric together. Politics and the media should not have power to divide us over these values, but now our social glue is losing its viscid grip.

At the core of these values is selflessness. Faith calls us to seek God’s guidance, family members are to love and support one another, and patriotism means caring for your fellow countrymen and women.

The decline of these selfless values is due in large part to the promotion of selfishness on social media. President John F. Kennedy’s famous charge, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country,” has been replaced by selfies and self-aggrandizement. Research has shown that spending more time on social media leads to higher levels of narcissism among 18- to 34-year-olds. It’s no coincidence that as social media has ascended, our values have crumbled.

Another contributor to this decline is our education system. Students from elementary school through college are being indoctrinated to abandon these shared bonds. They are taught to dismiss faith in God, dismantle the nuclear family, and loathe the foundational principles that created our great country.

There is only one way to fix this problem, and it’s not through policy change in Washington. It starts by reinstilling our values at the dinner table—a time when we turn off our phones, give thanks to God for His provision, and connect as a family. It’s by returning to the basics that we reconnect with the values that matter most.