Former Republican strategist Phillips takes an uncompromising view of the political coalition, led by radical religion, that is driving America to the brink of disaster. From Ancient Rome to the British Empire, Phillips demonstrates that every world-dominating power has been brought down by a related set of causes: a lethal combination of global over-reach, militant religion, resource problems, and ballooning debt. It is this same axis of ills that has come to define America's political and economic identity in the past decade. Military miscalculations in the Middle East, the surge of fundamentalist religion, the staggering national debt, the costs of U.S. oil dependence--together these factors are undermining our nation's security, solvency, and standing in the world. If left unchecked, the same forces will bring a debt-bloated, preachy, energy-starved America to its knees.--From publisher description.

Fuel and national power -- The politics of American oil dependence -- Trumpets of democracy, drums of gasoline -- Radicalized religion : as American as apple pie -- Defeat and resurrection : the southernization of America -- The United States in a Dixie cup : the new religious and political battlegrounds -- Church, state, and national decline -- Soaring debt, uncertain politics, and the financialization of the United States -- Debt : history's unlearned lesson -- Serial bubbles and foreign debt holders : American embarrassment and Asian opportunity -- The erring Republican majority -- Afterword : the changing Republican presidential coalition.