I'm reminded of the Egyptian public's response to their loss in the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Many were excited at Sadat's turn toward peace and the Camp David summit. Others, (not you in this metaphor Bert, but perhaps some) thought the "problem" that led to the defeat was a lack of religious ardor. That led to Egyptian Islamic Jihad being founded with the intent to throw out the dictators who lost the war and bring the country back to where it needed to be spiritually.
The structural problem is we don't have a level playing field. If we did we would be able to resign our ace pitcher no problem and maybe add a bat. Sadat realized that war with Israel was fruitless.
The spiritual problem is not really the issue. We appear to need to overcome that structural problem somehow.