Is America in Decline? Lessons from Cicero, America's Founders, and William F. Buckley, Jr.

What can the ancients teach us about our republic today? Learn all this and more in the latest episode of The Larry Arnn Show, where Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn interviews Charles R. Kesler, professor at Claremont McKenna College. Learn from Kesler about his unexpected meeting with conservative luminary William F. Buckley Jr., Cicero's advice for today, and much more. This interview was conducted on February 2nd, 2026. Discover more at podcast.hillsdale.edu ------------------------------ Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction: Cicero, Rome & the American Founding 1:13 Where Charles Kesler Came From: West Virginia & a Conservative Education 3:14 Meeting Bill Buckley at 16: The Telegram & the Interview 6:44 Why Harvard Over Yale: Conservative Academics That Shaped a Mind 10:33 Learning From Harvey Mansfield: How to Read a Great Book 19:19 Larry Arnn on the Best Federalist Papers Lecture He Ever Heard 22:38 Kesler's Doctoral Thesis: Why Cicero & Why Latin 24:48 Cicero's Contribution: Rome, Natural Law & the Republic 28:54 Cicero as a Template for the American Founders 30:50 How Cicero's Natural Law Shaped Western Political Thought 35:32 What Can Cicero Teach Us Today? 39:10 The Crisis of Two Constitutions: The Founders' vs. the Living Constitution 45:59 Republican Government: What It Means & Why It's the Hardest to Keep 49:27 Reasons for Optimism: The Supreme Court, Trump & the American People 54:55 The Administrative State: Rule by Experts vs. Self-Government 59:20 The Supreme Court Rolls Back the Administrative State 1:01:33 Trump's 2024 Coalition & the Future of Conservatism Support Hillsdale College: https://secured.hillsdale.edu/hillsda... Visit our website: http://hillsdale.edu Learn from our online courses: http://online.hillsdale.edu Read Imprimis: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/ Undergraduate programs: https://www.hillsdale.edu/information... Graduate School of Statesmanship: https://www.hillsdale.edu/academics/g... Graduate School of Government: https://dc.hillsdale.edu/School-of-Go... Graduate School of Education: https://classicalgrad.hillsdale.edu/ Listen to the Hillsdale College Podcast Network: https://podcast.hillsdale.edu/ ------------------------------ Hillsdale College is an independent institution of higher learning founded in 1844 by men and women “grateful to God for the inestimable blessings” resulting from civil and religious liberty and “believing that the diffusion of learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings.” It pursues the stated object of the founders: “to furnish all persons who wish, irrespective of nation, color, or sex, a literary, scientific, [and] theological education” outstanding among American colleges “and to combine with this such moral and social instruction as will best develop the minds and improve the hearts of its pupils.” As a nonsectarian Christian institution, Hillsdale College maintains “by precept and example” the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith. The College also considers itself a trustee of our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law. By training the young in the liberal arts, Hillsdale College prepares students to become leaders worthy of that legacy. By encouraging the scholarship of its faculty, it contributes to the preservation of that legacy for future generations. By publicly defending that legacy, it enlists the aid of other friends of free civilization and thus secures the conditions of its own survival and independence.