Kirk Cameron longs for US to return to values of Founding Fathers

Actor and producer Kirk Cameron said America can get out of the "mess" it's in by returning to the "original factory settings", which involves listening to the Founding Fathers who relied on wisdom that comes from faith in God and His Word.

Speaking at the 2012 Values Voter Summit in Washington DC, on Friday, the evangelical Christian said he was concerned about the future of the nation as he is a father of six children.

The 42-year-old actor, "Growing Pains" and "Fireproof" star, said he never understood the importance of voting, but "I now understand as a dad that someone will be steering the ship".

He said he is particularly concerned about the November election due to the nation's gigantic debt and issues like crumbling values, unwanted pregnancies, teenage suicides, breaking families, drugs and alcoholism.

Cameron added that he finds most people merely playing the blame game, while there's a need for a clear voice to help the nation get out of the mess. "Perhaps we have forgotten what made us such a great nation in the first place," he said.

The actor said his new film, "Monumental: In Search of America's National Treasure," seeks to remind the nation of the founding principles, and how America can "return to its original factory settings." He said he approached the film not as a filmmaker or a politician, but as a father.

"If only I could go back in time" and talk to the Founding Fathers about how to lead the nation toward "the place of blessing", he said. "If only my name was Marty McFly and I had a DeLorean!" he said.

Cameron added he is not Marty McFly, so he did the next best thing and went to England, to retrace the route of the Pilgrims to understand who they were, what motivated them, and why they laid down their lives for their children.

The filmmaker also went to the Netherlands, where the Pilgrims stayed for 12 years "under the care of their loving Pastor John Robinson... who is affectionately known as the founding father of the forefathers." Pastor Robinson, he said, taught them the nation building principles which they brought into the "new world," such as electing your own officials, leaders and government, a limited government, and free enterprise.

Cameron said during his research he was hoping that the Founding Fathers had enough foresight to know that the nation might get off track, and they had put a "guard rail" for us. "I looked for it... and found it. They left it for us."

"They left it in the form of the largest granite monument in the United States of America, but most people have never heard of it. I had never heard of it," he said. "It sits on the top of a hill in Massachusetts. It is 180 tons of granite... and it lays down our forefathers' strategies for how to build and sustain a free and just society. It's called the Monumental Forefathers."

Cameron then described the monument, located on Allerton Street in Plymouth, Massachussetts. "She is 81 feet tall; her name is Faith. She stands tall with her fingers pointing to heaven, the God of heaven, with a star on her forehead representing wisdom. And in her left hand she holds the Word of God. It is specifically the Geneva Bible, which is the Bible the Pilgrims brought across with them on the Mayflower."

Our forefathers believed that you must have faith in God and His Word, which will give wisdom to govern your society, he added, and went on to describe the four buttresses boasting figures emblematical of the principles upon which the Pilgrims founded their Commonwealth, each having a symbol referring to the Bible that "Faith" possesses: Freedom, Morality, Law and Education.

Our forefathers' principles influenced the Founding Fathers, he said. "According to our forefathers, God is the platform," said Cameron, possibly alluding to Democrats' initial hitch in having the word "God" in their party's platform at the recently held Democratic National Conference.

Cameron also talked about the "sanctity of life" and his belief that "adoption is the answer to the abortion crisis".

"We change only two letters in the word abortion and we get the word adoption and it reflects the heartbeat of God," he said.