Political historian Kevin Phillips to speak at Cornell College

MOUNT VERNON — Leading political historian Kevin Phillips will discuss the role of radical religion in American politics at Cornell College at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7, in Kimmel Theatre. Admission to the lecture is free.

Speaking on the topic of “American Theocracy,” also the title of his 2006 book, Phillips will present evidence that the United States is following in the footsteps of world powers from ancient Rome to the British Empire that have been brought down by the combination of global overreach, militant religion, diminishing resources and ballooning debt.

Phillips has been invited to visit as part of the Earhart-Cornell Lecture series, “The Liberal Arts and the Public Square,” funded by the Earhart Foundation of Ann Arbor, Mich.

Phillips is a regular commentator for National Public Radio, and a former NBC commentator. He was a strategic advisor to President Richard Nixon, which was the basis for his book The Emerging Republican Party, widely regarded as one of the most influential recent works in political science. At one time a Republican strategist, Kevin has become a critic of the party.

The Earhart-Cornell series at Cornell has featured U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; evolutionary biologist and popular science writer Stephen Jay Gould; Yale University law professor and author Stephen Carter; Harvard University legal scholar Mary Ann Glendon; Walter Williams, economist, columnist and commentator; social philosopher and author Michael Novak; and Pulitzer Prize-winner and Harvard educator Samantha Power.