Today, Donald Trump will be inaugurated the 45th president of the Untied States. But what does it mean to “make America great again”?

For some people, it means returning to the values that really did indeed make America great — traditional family, exceptionalism, ingenuity, personal wealth, the pursuit of happiness. To them, it’s great hope for the future. However, with all the talk about freedom, rights, values, and wealth, there’s been little or no mention of what makes America great.

“We are moving closer to a total reliance of the government for help.”

Media pundits and most people on social media argue that only government action will make America great again. However, the government doesn’t make families stay together, create wealth, or contribute to happiness. We are constantly looking at solving problems with a top-down approach. Yet if we’re truly to make America great again, we need to look at the bottom up — from the people to the government.

This idea is known as the principle of subsidiarity — a major principle in Catholic social thought. It’s also a principle held by those who believe social responsibility starts with the individual and not the government.

In his 1991 encyclical “Centesimus Annus,” St. John Paul II detailed the dangers of the “Social Assistance State”:

“By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending. In fact, it would appear that needs are best understood and satisfied by people who are closest to them and who act as neighbors to those in need. Unfortunately, we are seeing a further movement away from this principle. In fact, we are moving closer to a total reliance of the government for help.”

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One of the key assumptions of the principle of subsidiarity is a strong faith in God, and the belief we have a responsibility to the gifts God has given us. We rarely hear faith mentioned when it comes to talking about making America great. With money and security at the top of everyone’s mind, there’s little room for it. However, if America is to return to traditional family values, ingenuity and wealth, and personal happiness, enacting or repealing laws will only get us so far.

Faith and religion is the basis of ethics and morals, personal happiness, and better treatment of individuals. President George Washington believed that being attentive to one’s faith is higher than that of citizenship:

“While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.”

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited!”

Even President John Adams believed the virtues gained from religion would make a great society, even a utopia:

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia [sic], what a Paradise would this region be.”

Today, faith and religion are still the basis for happiness and community involvement. In 2016, a Pew Research study found that faith-involved Americans were happier overall than adults with little or no faith or religious participation. They were more involved in their families and communities. They were also more likely to donate their time and money to help their community: Some 65 percent of highly religious adults donated their money versus the only 41 percent of less religious adults.

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Unfortunately, there has been a steady decline in the number of people attending church, having a religious affiliation, or even believing in God. From 2007 to 2014, those who did not affiliate with any religion or identified as agnostic jumped from 16.1 percent to 22.8 percent, while those adults who identified as Christian significantly dropped from 78.4 percent to 70.6 percent. While religious affiliation has been dropping, volunteering and community involvement has also steadily been on the decline for the last 10 years and declined again in 2015 to 24.9 percent.

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In essence: Government is not the answer to making America great.

As people become less involved in their faith, families, and communities, they are also becoming less satisfied with the country. The population is increasingly looking to the government for answers to their unhappiness — only to find the government’s actions lacking in fulfillment. The fact that Americans are steadily becoming less religious coincides with the dropping of U.S. satisfaction, indicating a strong link between the two.

A 2016 Gallup poll found that only 17 percent of Americans were satisfied with the country. This only makes sense as faith declines and dependence on the government to solve problems increases. When the government inevitably fails at solving the problem and even makes it worse, those who put their faith in the government instead of God are left disappointed and dissatisfied. To them and the majority of the population, America is not great. It is a population lacking faith and placing their hope in the government that has contributed to America’s decline and its lack in greatness.

If our new leaders truly want to make America great again, they will lead not by the enactment of laws or even deregulation, though those actions are important and required in some cases. They will lead by encouraging a faith-filled population that looks to God for the answer and not government. They will encourage America to look to family, the neighbor, and the community first before going to ask for help from the government. It’s only faith that will make America great again.