‘We’re at an Inflection Point’: What’s Next for America? | Robert George

American Thought Leaders

The Epoch Times

Government, News, Politics

4.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As America has reeled from the assassination of Charlie Kirk, many have wondered what the future holds.

How will this tragedy transform America? Will political violence continue to escalate? What is the path forward?

To understand our current political and cultural moment, I sat down with legal scholar and political philosopher Robert George. He’s a professor and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.

“We’re at an inflection point, and it’s very worrying, very dangerous,” George said. “We could easily fall into a cycle of revenge, and then what becomes of us?”

For years, he has been contemplating how the age of faith and the age of reason have been succeeded by what he has described as the “age of feelings” and moral relativism.

His new book is titled: “Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth: Law and Morality in Our Cultural Moment.”

In this episode, we have explored Kirk’s legacy, the dangers of ever-growing polarization, and the pernicious ideas that have eroded civil discourse and the foundations of our free society.

“If this generation rising today does not adopt a spirit of civic friendship, if they don’t value civil discourse, then … this grand experiment in republican government and ordered liberty bequeathed to us by our great founding fathers will be lost,” George said.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We're at an inflection point, and it's very worrying, very dangerous.
0:04.0	We've got to overcome this extreme polarization.
0:08.0	We have to persuade our people that their fellow citizens who disagree with them are not their enemies.
0:15.0	As America reels from the assassination of Charlie Kirk,
0:19.0	I sat down with legal scholar, political philosopher,
0:22.6	and Princeton University professor Robert George to understand our current political moment.
0:27.6	And we could easily fall in to a cycle of revenge. And then what becomes of us.
0:35.6	For years, he's been contemplating how the age of faith and the age of reason
0:40.3	have been succeeded by what he describes as the age of feelings and moral relativism.
0:46.3	His new book is titled Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth, Law and Morality in our Cultural Moment.
0:53.3	Our true enemies are people who want to sow division among our people.
0:59.0	They benefit if we treat each other as enemies.
1:03.0	This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Janja Kellick.
1:08.0	Professor Robert George, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders.
1:11.6	Thank you. It's a great joy to be here.
1:14.6	It's a difficult day. You know, this is the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination.
1:22.6	And, you know, I've been dwelling in this, as have so many Americans and even people outside of the country.
1:29.3	And I've been asked to talk about it on various programs.
1:34.3	And I keep thinking about the fact that actually everything you're talking about in this book that we planned
1:40.3	to do an interview on for months now is kind of central to what's happened.
1:47.0	What do you think?
1:49.0	Well, we're speaking with each other the day after this horrible murder, this assassination.
	...

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