America's 250th : Republic vs Empire w/ Andrew Day & Brandan Buck

America's 250th : Republic vs Empire w/ Andrew Day & Brandan Buck

From Trip the Beltway Fantastic With Kelley Vlahos and Friends by Distributed by: OMG Media Partners, LLC

June 30, 2026 · 41 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the debate over whether the U.S. should act as a restrained republic or a global empire as it approaches its 250th birthday.

The U.S. is nearing its 250th birthday, and we still can’t escape the argument at the heart of American foreign policy: are we supposed to be a restrained republic or a globe-spanning empire? I’m joined by Brandon Buck of the Cato Institute and Andrew Day of The American Conservative to dig into the founding-era warnings that shaped the country’s early posture, from Washington’s caution about permanent alliances to John Quincy Adams’ refusal to go abroad “in search of monsters to destroy.” We also square that tradition with the uncomfortable parts of the early national story, including violent continental expansion and the limits of the “isolationist founders” narrative. From there, we track the real inflection points that made intervention feel normal: the Spanish-American War and overseas annexations, the progressive-era push toward moral mission language, and the way modern finance changes politics by hiding the true costs of war. We talk about Congress’ constitutional role in declaring war, why militarism corrodes republican institutions, and how American universalism can become a justification for crusades abroad, especially after the Cold War when “defending democracy”…

People in this episode

Host: Kelley Vlahos

Guests: Andrew Day, Brandan Buck

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cato Institute, The American Conservative

More episodes of Trip the Beltway Fantastic With Kelley Vlahos and Friends

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Trip the Beltway Fantastic With Kelley Vlahos and Friends podcast page.