Replace the Republic?

Socialism & America’s 250th - A Conversation With Os Guinness

America continues to celebrate the birthday of the Republic at the same time that a political movement — so-called 'democratic socialism' — has pledged to "rewrite the Constitution" and overturn many of America's key institutions. In contrast to previous generations, polls suggest that over 60% of America's young adults favor socialism or communism. What is to be done? Renowned author and social critic Os Guinness has provided answers in a recently published trio of books calling for a restoration of America's founding principles. Join VOC in commemorating Constitution Day as part of our celebration of America's 250^th and hear Os Guinness reflect on how to overcome the challenges of all forms of Marxism and totalitarianism in our time.

Biography
Os Guinness is an author and social critic. Great-great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, he was born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the climax of the brutal Chinese revolution in 1949, he was expelled with many other foreigners in 1951 and returned to Europe where he was educated in England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford. Os has written or edited more than thirty books, including most recently A Freedom Like No Other: America 250 and the Restoration of the American Republic (2026) and America Agonistes: America’s 250th and the Restoration of a Nation in Conflict with Itself and Its Past (2025).

Since moving to the United States in 1984, Os has been a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies, a Guest Scholar and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum and the EastWest Institute in New York. He was the lead drafter of the Williamsburg Charter in 1988, a celebration of the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, and later of “The Global Charter of Conscience,” which was published at the European Union Parliament in 2012. Os has spoken at many of the world’s major universities, and spoken widely to political and business conferences across the world. He lives with his wife Jenny in the Washington DC area.