"We need to see this in total, not just a set of isolated issues."
I agree, but the overriding factor to me that trumps all other issues combined is IMMIGRATION.
You write of the Founding Fathers. Just to remind you that back in the late 1700s this country was 99% Christians. What has happened? Back in 1960, a mere 5 years before the Immigration and Naturalization Act, 90% of all immigration (legal and illegal) to our country was European, as intended by our Founding Fathers. Today over 90% of all legal and illegal immigration is non-European. What has happened? What has happened, and continues to happen, is that our immigration policies and laws today discriminate against European immigration as a collective. This is not happening in a vacuum or by accident - it has all been planned by the enemies of Christianity, that which gave rise to our culture, traditions, mores and way of life. That which gave rise to Western Culture.
Hold on to your hats boys! We'll soon be up to our necks. If we are lucky we'll morph into another 3rd world banana republic, like a Cuba or a Brazil. If not, prepare to defend your own.
As a parallel consider some military theory that has come about due to technology. There was a time when forts and strong points would impede the invasion of the enemy armies. Now, forts are next to useless, in fact, even worse than useless because they eat resources. Now consider the Jews who were scattered to the four winds. They managed to preserve a nationality with no forts at all, very modern. I would propose that territory, land, is no longer the basis of the modern State. The territory is invisible, nearly a state of mind. America is not so much a particular acreage but an idea, a very ancient idea including the name itself. We like the idea of owning a home on a lot with definite corner markers. That is important. We extend the idea to our towns and states and the entire Federal nation. We should keep all that, it is the growing tip of the shoot. But, the planet is a closed system still and faced with massive population growth so there is pressure on the national idea. The idea of America is the best idea we ever had and ought to be preserved, but let us see what is actually happening that is beyond our understanding; we may never get another chance to have an America. We shouldn't gamble on this.