On the last day of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked what form of government was being proposed for the United States. His famous reply was: “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.” Princeton professor Robert George has some ideas on “How to Keep Our Republic.”

He acknowledges that many presidents have pushed the limits of their power while in office. But he reminds us that “as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we also celebrate a quarter millennium without an American Caesar or Napoleon.”

Instead, he focuses on the American people. In his first inaugural address, George Washington observed that “the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”

John Adams is known for declaring “our Constitution is made for a moral and religious people” and “is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Robert George explains why that is true. “Because a people lacking in virtue could be counted on to trade liberty for protection, for financial or personal security, for comfort, or for having their problems solved quickly.”

Keeping our republic depends on a virtuous citizenship. He laments that this is a challenge because, many Americans “do not even know what a family is anymore, let alone how to be part of one or how to properly start a new one.” Church attendance is at record lows.

If we are experiencing an American decline, it is not because the constitutional order is flawed, or the political system is broken. It is because we need a moral and spiritual revival in this country.