Bear with me while I tell a story. On NBC’s action spy comedy, “Chuck” (airing Mondays at 8:00 p.m. EST), the two main characters are in conflict. Sara, the seasoned veteran spy, is the handler for newbie Chuck, an everyday nerd who was thrust into the spy game due to the accidental download of a computer program into his brain containing top government secrets. Sara and Chuck are in love, but the job presents obstacles which continually make their relationship improbable, if not impossible. Sara is attracted to Chuck because she sees in him an innocence she willingly surrendered. She fell in love because he possesses a quality she so deeply desires for herself. In Chuck, Sara is able to find hope for a future she so callously tossed away. Chuck, however, is increasingly placed in situations which force him to compromise his innocence in pursuit of a life completely foreign to him. In the midst of the chaos he struggles to determine who he really is and what he really stands for. As Chuck continues to pursue this life, Sara becomes increasingly disenchanted as she sees him changing into a man who scantly resembles the man she originally fell in love with. She begins to wonder if the Chuck she loved and admired is lost forever, and if she’ll ever be able to reclaim the person she once was. In a recent episode, Sara pleads with Chuck not to “give up on the things that make you great.”

A similar crisis is playing out in America. As a nation, we have lost our innocence. We are struggling to determine who we really are and what we really stand for as we continually compromise our foundational principles. Those on the conservative side of the aisle wonder if we’ll ever be able to reclaim the things that make us great. It has become quite clear that leaders on both sides have been pursuing a path foreign to many of us. Conservatives have been taught principles deeply rooted in faith, self-reliance and a strong work ethic. The Founding Fathers rightly concluded that we are born with inalienable rights endowed by our Creator – rights which no man or government may infringe upon. For the first time in history rights were understood to be of divine origin rather than a reflection of the heavy-handed will of an earthly sovereign or tyrannical government. They were also suspicious of government. Somewhere along the line many have lost touch with these core values and principles. But there is a horde awakening from a deep slumber. Conservatives believe in American Exceptionalism – a spirit which abides in a society fortified by freedom and liberty. We believe anything is possible if we work hard and live with integrity. No one owes us anything we’re not willing to work for. James Madison succinctly stated, “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” To subcontract this essential task to government is an obfuscation of a duty inherent in the concept of community.

As Chuck is to Sara, those who revere the Constitution can represent hope to others seeking a more fulfilled life. Ronald Reagan once urged us, as a nation, to “be a model to the world.” In 1630, John Winthrop uttered a similar sentiment when speaking to the Massachusetts Bay colonists, “We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” I urge you to be a model for your fellow Americans. They are watching. Hope will not be found in us as individuals but, rather, through us as “keepers of an eternal flame.” If we even insinuate a moral clarity we must be compelled to operate above the fray by modeling the principles commissioned by our forefathers and endowed by our Creator. We must exemplify love for our fellow man regardless of color, race or creed. The light of Truth must shine so bright in our lives that others are drawn to us like moths to a flame. A wise man recently advised me to “just keep pounding truth and facts against the argument on the table, not the person making it.” So please refrain from trench warfare (name-calling and demeaning the opposition). We surrender the high ground in doing so. We must be willing to love and respect even our fiercest enemy.

I predict Chuck will not forsake the things that make him great, and Sara will find the person she longs to become because Chuck will remain steadfast in his core beliefs and do so with a humble courage. Likewise, let’s be humbly courageous in reestablishing that bright city upon a hill by allowing hope to be found through us (not in us). Only then will America reclaim an innocence lost.