Debating America's Decline

Abstract

Twilight of the Republic: Empire and Exceptionalism in the American Political Tradition. By Justin B. Litke Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2013. 214 pp., $50.00 hardcover (ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-4220-3). There are continuous debates in American history about a variety of political principles and traditions such as the nature of freedom of speech and religion, war and diplomacy, the environment, as well as others (Fineman 2008). However, there is a growing cacophony of voices in the public sphere who argue about the decline of the United States. The voices of decline argue America has become too gluttonous, too involved with international affairs, and too encumbered by debt. These voices maintain the United States is at a tipping point and has a very short window of time to step back from the precipice of permanent decay. Twilight of the Republic: Empire and Exceptionalism in the American Political Tradition is one of those voices. Justin Litke asserts America's political tradition has been fundamentally altered, which is the underlying reason for the republican crisis we face today. This political tradition was not altered with sweeping legislative changes of the last 50 years. Rather, this shift occurred gradually from the founding of the republic to the turn of the twentieth century. Litke sets out to examine “the foundations of the American political tradition and [measure] the distance between today's America and yesterday's” (p. 2). At this distance, “we gain a better perspective on the republican crisis facing us” (p. 2). To ascertain what these foundations are, Litke inspects how the elements of American exceptionalism evolved over the nineteenth century. Litke's ultimate goal is to familiarize his audience with “who we [Americans] are, who we have been, and who we might be,” because “the present moment of twilight precedes either a new dawn …