From the start, 250 years ago, America\u2019s founders believed that their republic would shine out as an example to all humanity. But the republic was also an experiment, and they feared that it could soon collapse into disorder or tyranny. Such has been the dance throughout America\u2019s extraordinary history. Slavery and xenophobia, corruption and robber barons, civil war and world war have all jostled the republic even as America rose to become the beacon of the free world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On July 4th Americans are celebrating their semiquincentennial. All those syllables rebut the founders\u2019 gloom. Far from succumbing to tyranny, America saved the world from tyrants three times over. Glorious disorder created a dynamism that has long sustained America as a superpower<\/a>. Dominance comes with temptations, but the United States has by and large held out republican virtues as the salvation of people everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet this birthday comes at another anxious moment in America\u2019s story. Virtue is under threat and talk of decline is in the air. Even as citizens celebrate together, public life is scarred by division. America is demolishing the world order that it created after the defeat of fascism in 1945. The restless republic is opening a new chapter, but does that signal retreat, as some Americans worry, or instead herald a renewal?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> America saved the world from tyrants three times over. Its economic dynamism has long sustained it as a superpower. By and large it has held out republican virtues as the salvation of people everywhere https:\/\/t.co\/19Rn9DI67F<\/a><\/p>— The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 6, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>