If You Can Keep It: America's Greatness Depends on This One Thing

As Benjamin Franklin was leaving one evening during the drafting of the Constitution in 1787, he was approached by a woman who asked, "Well, doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?"

The always witty Franklin responded, "A republic, madam - if you can keep it."

Author Eric Metaxas talks about his latest book on America's founding If You Can Keep It, on The 700 Club, Thursday.

More than two centuries later, New York Times best-selling author Eric Metaxas examines what that means and how we are doing on that score.

If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty is at once a thrilling review of America's uniqueness, including our role as a "nation of nations," and a chilling reminder that America's greatness cannot continue unless we embrace our own crucial role in living out what the founders entrusted to us.

Metaxas explains that America is not a nation bounded by ethnic identity or geography, but rather by a radical and unprecedented idea, based on liberty and freedom for all.

He cautions us that it's nearly past time we reconnect to that idea, or we may lose the very foundation of what made us exceptional in the first place.

If You Can Keep It is part history and part rousing call to arms, steeped in a critical analysis of our founding fathers' original intentions for America.