🧭Decline by Choice: Confronting the Theological Roots of American Tyranny
The Theological Foundations of America's Constitutional Crisis
When Charles Krauthammer observed in 2009 that "decline is a choice," he could hardly have imagined how prescient his words would become for our current moment. The award-winning columnist rejected the premise that America's decline was inevitable, insisting instead that our national trajectory remains within our control. This insight takes on painful relevance as we witness what The Dispatch has aptly called our "slouching towards tyranny" in their recent editorial.
The editorial's core concern resonates deeply with my analysis of the theological mutations distorting American Christianity. What we're witnessing isn't merely a political phenomenon but a theological one — a profound distortion of Christian principles that has facilitated the acceptance of authoritarian governance and the abandonment of constitutional norms. As James Madison warned in Federalist 47, "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
This week's editorial connects directly to our exploration of Mark 10:35-45, where Jesus confronts his disciples' imperial understanding of power and leadership with a model of servant leadership that stands in stark contrast to the palace theology we see manifesting in our current political moment.
Theological Foundations of Constitutional Order
The Founders' vision for American governance wasn't merely political pragmatism; it reflected profound theological insights about human nature, power, and governance. Their insistence on separated powers, checks and balances, and constitutional constraints flows from a theological anthropology that recognizes human fallibility and the corrupting influence of power.
This constitutional vision embodies what I've called participatory freedom — freedom understood not as autonomy or domination but as the capacity for love and relationship. The constitutional order creates the conditions for genuine freedom by preventing any person or faction from dominating others. This understanding of freedom has deep roots in trinitarian theology, where divine persons exist in perfect freedom through mutual self-giving love rather than domination.
When we understand constitutional fidelity as a theological virtue rather than merely a political preference, we see how Tribal Epistemology undermines it. Closed information systems based on identity make constitutional constraints appear as impediments to the "righteous" exercise of power rather than safeguards of genuine freedom.
KEY INSIGHT: Constitutional constraints on power aren't limitations on freedom but rather make genuine freedom possible by preventing domination. Their rejection represents not just political imprudence but theological distortion.
This theological foundation helps us understand why the editorial's concerns about the current administration's "rejection of fidelity to the rule of law and the Constitution" reflect more than partisan disagreement. They identify a theological crisis at the heart of our political moment.
Contemporary Expressions of Distorted Theology
The Dispatch editorial identifies several concerning trends that reveal the theological distortions at work in our current political moment. What they describe as the administration's embrace of "literally monarchism or autocracy... mercantilism and a division of the world into 'spheres of influence'" flows directly from what I've identified as theological mutations within American Christianity.
These political positions are manifestations of Disordered Nationalism, where national identity supersedes theological identity; Authoritarian Spirituality, where charismatic leadership replaces communal discernment; and Primitive Biblicism, where complex scriptural interpretation is reduced to simplistic proof-texting that validates existing power structures.
The editorial's concerns about Ukraine policy reveal the theological mutation of Prosperity Materialism. When the administration views Ukrainians "not as allies desperately fighting for their freedom and survival, but as freeloaders," we see a mercenary approach to international relations that stems from reframing blessing as material success and economic advantage.
This vision of international relations as "an arena to be carved up by rival mob bosses" directly contradicts the Christian understanding of human dignity and the common good. When nations become "targets for economic exploitation or even territorial expansion," we're witnessing not just flawed foreign policy but a theological mutation that elevates power and dominance over the servant leadership modeled by Christ.
Practices for Cultivating Constitutional Fidelity
How do we recover constitutional fidelity as a theological virtue? This requires specific spiritual and intellectual practices that counteract the theological mutations undermining our constitutional order.
First, we must practice theological discernment that distinguishes between genuine Christian principles and their distorted mutations. This means critically examining how theological language is used to justify power politics rather than servant leadership, domination rather than participation, and tribal loyalty rather than truth-telling.
Second, we need communal practices that embody the participatory freedom at the heart of both constitutional democracy and trinitarian theology. This includes creating spaces for genuine dialogue across differences, practicing the art of speaking truth while remaining open to correction, and embodying forms of leadership that serve rather than dominate.
Third, we must recover the practice of constitutional interpretation as a theological discipline. This means understanding how constitutional principles like checks and balances, due process, and equal protection reflect theological insights about human dignity, the corrupting influence of power, and the conditions for genuine freedom.
Fourth, we need practices of public truth-telling that challenge Binary Apocalypticism and its rigid friend/enemy distinctions. This means speaking truth even when it's politically inconvenient, refusing to demonize those who disagree, and maintaining commitment to factual reality even when tribal loyalty demands otherwise.
Theological Integration
Constitutional fidelity isn't a standalone virtue but part of a coherent theological vision of human flourishing. This vision integrates several key theological concepts we've explored in this series.
Freedom understood as participation rather than domination connects constitutional governance to trinitarian theology. Just as the divine persons experience perfect freedom through mutual self-giving rather than domination, constitutional democracy creates the conditions for genuine human freedom by preventing any person or faction from dominating others.
Truth-telling as a theological practice rather than merely a moral obligation connects constitutional discourse to the truth-telling we explored in our discussion of bullshit. When we understand truth as a relationship rather than merely a correspondence between statements and facts, we see why constitutional governance requires a commitment to shared factual reality.
Servant leadership as modeled by Christ rather than the domination exemplified by worldly rulers connects constitutional governance to the cruciform life. When political leadership is understood as service rather than domination, constitutional constraints become not limitations on leadership but expressions of its proper form.
Empathy as the foundation for political community rather than tribal identity connects constitutional governance to the moral imagination. When we understand our political community as grounded in our shared humanity rather than tribal affiliations, constitutional protections for all citizens become expressions of empathy rather than impediments to tribal dominance.
Conclusion
The Dispatch editorial concludes that "Trump's pursuit of American decline is a choice, so, too, is refusing to object to it." This brings us back to Krauthammer's insight and points to the theological choice before us.
Will we continue embracing distorted mutations of Christian theology that facilitate authoritarian governance and constitutional erosion? Or will we recover the participatory freedom theology that inspired the constitutional order and sustains genuine human flourishing?
Our current slouch toward tyranny isn't inevitable. It represents a theological choice as much as a political one. The path forward requires not just political courage but theological reformation — recovering the cruciform pattern of Jesus as our model for leadership, the trinitarian vision of freedom through mutual self-giving, and the commitment to truth-telling over tribal loyalty.
Only by addressing these theological roots can we arrest our slouch toward tyranny and recover the genuine freedom to which both our faith and our founding documents call us. As we've seen throughout this series, democracy isn't merely a political arrangement but a theological achievement — one that requires constant vigilance and renewal of its theological foundations.
Key Terms
Disordered Nationalism: Elevation of national identity above theological identity. Full entry → (Coming soon)
Authoritarian Spirituality: Replacement of communal discernment with charismatic leadership. Full entry →(Coming soon)
Tribal Epistemology: Creation of closed information systems based on identity. Full entry →(Coming soon)
Participatory Freedom: Freedom as capacity for love and relationship rather than autonomy or domination. Full entry →(Coming soon)
Notes
[1] The Dispatch editorial "Slouching Towards Tyranny" was published on April 10, 2025.
[2] Charles Krauthammer's essay "Decline is a Choice" was originally published in The Weekly Standard in October 2009.
[3] James Madison's warning about the accumulation of powers appears in Federalist No. 47, published in 1788.
[4] The concept of "participatory freedom" draws on both Philip Pettit's theory of freedom as non-domination and trinitarian theology's understanding of freedom through relationship.