Great post and comments are great, too. Lack of respect in this country boils down to:

1) no knowledge of God in the culture, and therefore there is no sense of personal and national accountability

2) public schools being social engineering camps and teach evolution which in turn teaches the children: see #1

3) the television is a moral wasteland.

4) Dads and Moms do not raise the children because they are too busy working to pay for the high taxes and live a materialistic lifestyle (see #1).