‘If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher,” Abraham Lincoln prophesized in his 1838 address to the Young Men’s Lyceum. “As a nation of free men, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
This famous excerpt from a speech replete with famous excerpts came to mind during a recent conversation on The Editors podcast. It was prompted by a solicitation from Rich to predict the fortunes of the United States as it is presently constituted — a continental republic dedicated in broad strokes to classically liberal governance, and a great power on the world stage — over the next century or so. I expressed optimism, but Rich posited an important caveat: If the United States became embroiled in a great-power war that it unambiguously lost, that could compel it to retreat inward and forget its character.
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