About 250 years that americas time could be up july 4th, the 2026. Yes if we learn from history if we learn nothing else than this is an expiration of eight empires and great nations. The average length is 250 years. Some last longer like the roman empire but they all follow the same pattern of decline and one of the characteristics was Massive National debt the United States is in 23 trillion and growing. Just to the interest alone is greater than the gdp of summations. President trump did not talk about cutting a single Government Program or decrease of the rate of spending this is the only nonpartisan thing that happens in this town you can always get agreement on the second contribution of the decline of great nations of empires is controlled immigration without assimilation. We want people to come to america but we want them to come legally and in an orderly fashion. Meant to be assimilated to become fully american. And then the moral sense contributes to the decline of great nation there was a satirical song in the 1930s anything goes if you say stop then you are denounced as a big it or one of many. So although a not a prophetic board im not wearing a sandwich board to say the end is near but while america is a great nation there are certain seed sown for our destruction we have to renew the value of the greatest generation we have been living off of by inertia over the last 60 or 70 years fought and died for. To that point you do say america is in peril we lost our sense of right and wrong but when i look around the country i see most people trying to do the right thing so where do you see society has gone wrong . We tolerate virtually everything. Take a look at the value of human life not just abortion even though weve had 60 million since roe v wade but there are other challenges in chicago and baltimore and major cities shootings every weekend so many that hardly makes the news this is how life has become an American People shot and killed because driveby shootings i wanted the Leather Jacket are the expensive shoes. And now we see in the debate over health care that we saw with the Clinton Administration put his wife in charge of reforming health care in america the pressure to save money will be so great once you devalue human life the pressure at the other end and in between if you are too old are not contributing enough to your taxes taking more than you are getting it will start at the extremes than the precedent is set like doctor assisted suicide particularly of the west coast that is a very slow step to the next step. One of the things that i mentioned is the millennials and that contributes to the decline of nations you need to have another reason to live other than getting up and going to work to make money there has to be more to life than that the 20 percent have no religious affiliation at all and will say none when asked by the pollsters if you are religious or not. Host now they say they believe in america exceptionalism. America is unique. But there is no lifetime guarantee. As i argue in the book the roman empire for example the eternal city now it is in ruins of a thought it would be around forever but they follow the same pattern of military experimentation and other things that contribute to a nations decline which is military overreach. George mcgovern president ial candidate from south dakota said during the vietnam war we cannot plead be the placement around the world which is true it to his great credit President Trump has been job owning others who have benefited decades from the American Nuclear umbrella to pay more and provide more troops in their own defense and thats a good thing certainly he is on the right path on that issue. In your book you go through eight empires which the parallel between the ottoman empires but what do you see that is similar . Human nature never changes you cannot change the human nature greed and envy, entitlement, sexual pleasure, military overreach what they call the seven deadly sins you cannot teach them nation are so the point of the book looking at the history of these superpowers is to say you had emperors and all these other titles and people dressed differently but they all suffered from the same internal dysfunction if we dont learn from this, this is why a sense of the transcendent to be accountable to god is important for the extension of life of any nation. You say there are cycles of how america is similar and right now we are in the cycle right now. The book is based on an essay and the final stage of collapse lincoln said if america is to fail it will fail from within so next and and i reprinted his harvard speech from the book he was asked repeatedly he was a great russian writer was a prisoner in the soviet union and was released and came to america to war in america there is no lifetime guarantee on any nation to get back to the decadence there is a common denominator a loss of the sense of god, military overreach and to focus on self , loss of the sense of right and wrong and now today if you say anything is wrong behavior anything you are denounced to any type of phobic so people dont want to be denounced or criticize the National Debt nobody is talking the last time there is any serious addressing it. Why is that a moral issue . Of course they are talking about more government and programs but remember speaker of the house paul ryan came up with a serious proposal which everybody knew needed to be done but were afraid to talk about Social Security and medicare the two major drivers of entitlement programs and the debt which continues to grow. He was denounced by the left a commercial was created a political ad with the paul ryan lookalike pushing granny over a cliff in a wheelchair. It was not a serious response to what Everybody Knows must be done. The politicians of both parties kick the can down the road. We need to reform Social Security jack kemp the late congressman from buffalo argued anybody who touches it we will guarantee key for Social Security. That sounds great but Everybody Knows you cannot continue to spend with more and more people retiring and fewer people working or the program will be bankrupt but the politicians dont want to do anything about it kick the can they are afraid they will be denounced like paul ryan. You talk about the loss of a sense of duty like these politicians dont have that sense of duty how do they restore that . Younger people dont serve in the military and dont know anybody who did. When i was growing up i served in the military. My generation i have friends have voluntarily joined after 9 11 and there are people on active duty right now so i do feel if we talk about they are swept under the rug in your generation they were drafted and had no choice my brother is part of the marine corps and went there voluntarily it is swept under the rug as people dont care but i think they do. Everybody ought to do some kind of Public Service it might be in the military or private are in addition to the job. The freedoms we enjoy are not the natural state of humanity if you look around the world despotism religious fundamentalism lack of free press do you have a library car card . But it has to be renewed for you legitimately to continue. We have been through the revolutionary war the vietnam war the greatest challenge of all and the aggressiveness around the world under the radar Building Bases in south america and nobody is addressing these things so these values for those previous generations who share them so god bless those people not only after 9 11 but since then for whatever reason we are very grateful for that. The v. A. Hasnt been run that well but the greatest generation now there is something that is different so what do you see. That is part of it but the whole idea of obligation to transfer to children and grandchildren if we are a certain age most of the world war ii generation but remember the super bowl veterans 100 years old that is the birthday of the nfl a nice little connection but they are fading. And to study the history those who come back from vietnam where demonstrated against and spat upon and treated as murderers. We havent really seen and appreciation of those who have served their country serving with honor and distinction we dont teach patriotism anymore now they have done away with pledge of allegiance because it could affect people who come from other countries. This is america if you want to pledge allegiance to your country then why did you come here . If you dont teach these values or indoctrinate those virtues of freedom and duty and honor and country has to be taught the has to be inculcated you dont catch like a virus. Host im so curious about your thoughts because of your history with faith and politics you are a Founding Member of that perceived leadership it seems like there are a lot of parallels today. I learned virtue and morals do not come from the topdown and bottomup thats true not only this country but every other nation to be sustained faith is something that can be transferred to others and you cannot suspect as people believe as i do based on legislation so you can argue in the Public Square to say you try to impose biblical values and those that are common to all humanity treating others with respect and equality for women the Golden Rule Love others as you love yourself but you are asked about politics. Twice a week but part of it is the polarization i have not seen since the vietnam war and in some ways its even worse people dont know each other except by labels to simply reinforce what they already think. And then to try to find Common Ground you wrote a book everyone after that my argument was i dont care with liberal or conservative lets have the unbiased look its producing the results as advertised by the charter legislation at a reasonable cost if we have a sales plan if your competition sells more than you are then you get rid of it or go out of business. Why cant we do that with government . Ronald reagan had one of the great lines of all time the only proof of eternal life in washington is the Government Program its easier till one to kill an empire we cant even reduce the rate of spending much less cut it. There was a National Helium reserve that it could be useful in warfare but this is the problem once a program gets passed we forget about it. The bureaucracy a gross one grows the secretary of education keeps trying to cut the federal presence in education before they tried to get rid of department of Education Congress wouldnt let him do it. We need a top to bottom look at the government and its purpose with the increasing loss of freedom. On the topic of christians in government today. Officer perceived especially with President Trump as members we need to make a choice they cannot serve both. I love President Trumps policies they are working better than any president republican or democrat in recent years whether the stock market. But then the unified republican government. It has been unified since elected. Of course democrats are still crediting president obama. [laughter] a lot of that is Consumer Confidence but talk about evangelical evangelicals, prolife, religios freedom, the Second Amendment has been better than any republican or democrat president from modern memory a lot of dont like his personality or his language but given the choice between Hillary Clinton and trump who may have been imperfect morally we all are at some level but appeal to them on the basis of the policies of which we believe jesus said my kingdom is not of this world and the eternal kingdom that i am sympathetic to voters who make that choice but in washington theres a lot of christian republicans how they defend really tough things what advice do you have to a faithful young person that might be uncomfortable with those things. In terms of Christian White behavior we are all of the glory of god is the old baptist him says nobody is Perfect People in congress are imperfect Lyndon Johnson and jack kennedy was covered up but this is the kingdom of the world and how it operates so beyond that in some areas on the policy matters its too easy to say were not electing a deacon or an elder but that its great to have somebody who combines all of these things. He is a serious christian he was made fun of said he wouldnt be alone with a woman unless his wife and people margin but nobody ever gets in trouble for what they did not do. It is funny because that if i should tell the story or not. Larry flynt i knew him a little bit because of the profession not because i was engaged in any activity, i met him a couple times he was on fox once he comes in his wheelchair this is when he was doing Background Investigations on conservatives and christians that were hypocritical. He offered to pay a Million Dollars he said we did a Background Investigation on you and we didnt find anything i said personally approved by larry flynt you are looking in the wrong place. [laughter] good for you. With the concept of impeachment mitt romney was the loan republican vote there is no glory except god and those to be inculcated like impeachment and removal so if you believe in the scripture as written does that mean any elected president can do whatever they want . We have a constitution and people swear to uphold the constitution i think there are several areas where they intersect jefferson where did not say all men are created equal and are endowed by their creators with certain unalienable rights and then in the next clause jefferson outlined the purpose of government and to secure these rights the rights of god why is that necessary because as James Madison said if we were angels we wouldnt need all these laws so tell me a law that lawbreakers and i will consider it so they will not obey the law where does Authority Come from even bad leaders i cant explain stalin or mao but when jesus stood before Pontius Pilate and said dont you realize i have the power of life and death over you he said you wouldnt have that if my father hadnt given it to you. Host President Trump that this was gods will. Im not done. I cannot tell you but as the evangelical leader who said in 2016 that god showed up and i wrote in response who showed up when obama was elected . You cant say that. If you look at scripture wetsuit on lawn what Saddam Hussein there is a lot of lousy leaders in scripture so you cant argue only one you voted for was gods will that is the first and by the way. With a lot of faith abiding republicans that want to go along with anything trump does right now is there anything President Trump could do for other evangelical leaders and said no thats a shortest answer have ever received. The president himself said there was strong evangelical support. But is that because of trump or the democrats but king david had the best line ever for the mortal flesh that we dont trust him i have my preferences you have your preferences but the thing that bothers me now is that somebody made this point the other night on television it used to be when you have an election, the losing side licks the wounds and has a meeting how to read to all the message but now how do we bring this guy down . They were arguing about impeachment, the democrats were even before the election and a day or two after from some of the more radical members of congress and as people said during the impeachment fiasco it was supposed to be rare and now when republicans get back in control they will go the same route and that would poison the political atmosphere even more than it is now. And getting to the concept of forgiveness at the National Prayer breakfast the harvard professor one of the nicest guys he stood up at the podium and said raise your hand if you love someone that you disagree with politically a most raise their hand that President Trump did not. I am writing a column called missed opportunity the real power comes from the person who feels he or she has benefited to extend forgiveness to the person who is guilty of the offense as jesus said with coals of fire upon their head this is the perfect opportunity the speech was brilliant and wonderful the president didnt even go down at the other end of the table if he had just shook her hand that would have been one of the greatest single of reconciliation and also said before the president got up he said you cant really do it out of your heart and fake it now who is better than faking it reality tv star donald trump . But jesus set the example when he was on the cross and was unfairly convicted and crucified but yet he said father forgive them for they know not what they do that is the ultimate reconciling statement and is not with the president agreeing with nancy pelosi with the articles of impeachment the last step the charges of racism so they try the root they could perform a Great Healing act and extend to this political moment. Its all about the quest for power. But its not real power. He is only power to change a life and change directions the fundraisers. A great story when you are asked why is everything so apocalyptic why cant we ever say we are doing a good job . It is not associated. Why dont you ever send out a positive letter of peoples contributions and said you cant raise money on a positive but how cynical is that if you say things are going great thank you for your contributions you made a difference they will not send mo