America as we know it faces the ultimate existential threat—a new world order at which America is no longer the hub. I'm not referring to the conspiracy theory talk of 'a new world order' may conjure up for some. I'm referring to the forces of change and history that threaten what America means to the world and goes well beyond the partisan political polarization that impedes us.

America has faced many existential threats in its 235-year history. In every case, it has emerged stronger, more prosperous, and better prepared for the next one. Politically, economically, and militarily we have become the hub of the modern world order. That order is now threatened by the confluence of our monumental national debt and military overextension, a global economic crisis, political upheaval in the Arab and Muslim worlds, the rise of China, and the desire by many countries that have benefited from the current order to change it.

Great nations and empires come and go; and America is no exception. Sooner or later, they eventually succumb to the forces of change. And while the proximate cause of their demise most often has taken the form of foreign political, economic, or military domination, the root causes are almost always embedded in the nature of change in their societies and how they reacted to internal and external forces.

Case in point is the Roman Republic-Empire (509BC-476AD), to which the United States is often compared. In the end, riddled with corruption, debt, military overextension, and decadence—and its economy hobbled by real climate change—it fell prey to the peoples and cultures that exploited Rome’s vulnerabilities.

The peoples and cultures that seek to exploit America’s vulnerabilities include the terrorists and rogue states committed to our destruction, China and Russia which see us as an obstacle to their own power and influence, and the underdeveloped world that seeks our redistributed wealth. But like the Vandals and the Visigoths they can only succeed if America weakens from within.

Americans have always been a people of boundless optimism. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of doomsayers on the right and the left predicting America’s downfall, proposing conflicting solutions to the challenges that face it, and creating an internal conflict that further weakens America.

Those on the right remind us that America is going broke, our national debt is out of control, and the moral fabric of our society is decaying. Their perspectives and solutions are embedded in the Tea Party movement that wants a conservative president and congress that will reduce the size and scope of government and its spending; and they seek to return America to the principles and ideas of our founding fathers.

They see the key to America’s future as remaining true to its past; and they seek to achieve their goals at the ballot box. Defeating President Obama in 2012 and replacing him with the right Republican candidate, they believe, will put America back on the right track domestically and internationally.

Liberals tell us that we’re over extended militarily (four wars if you count Libya and Yemen), our financial system is corrupt and unfair, and climate change will doom us all. Leading them is a network of groups and organizations that call themselves ‘progressive.’ They want a new and different America, one that is part of a new world order as advocated by their principal benefactor, George Soros.

They seek what Mr. Obama, a progressive, advocates—the redistribution of wealth and social justice—but they seek much more. They want to take America apart and put it back together in a new world order based on social justice and equity for all nations. They may once have believed that it was possible to do that at the ballot box, but the election of 2010 demonstrated that it’s not. Only if the system collapses can they rebuild it as they want to.

How this conflict of ideas and solutions will play out over time depends on much more than the results of the 2012 election. Without the White House and decisive majorities in both houses of Congress, which is unlikely, neither party will be able to turn that ship of state sharply to the right or the left.

As a conservative I believe that a Republican President and Congress, pursuing the kind of policies domestically and internationally that Ronald Reagan pursued, are what’s necessary to save the country from disaster. But I fear that even with them, Republicans and Democrats have driven us too far down a dead-end road to back out quickly. Our crushing debt is deep rooted in the nature of our entitlement-driven society and our federal and state governments respond too slowly to chronic problems.

If America is to avert disaster it must respond quickly and effectively domestically and internationally before multiple situations worsen much further. But the worse may still lie ahead.

People as far apart on the political spectrum as Democratic strategist James Carville, President Bill Clinton’s campaign manager, and conservative radio and TV personality Glenn Beck are predicting widespread civil unrest. Neither sees our economic problems resolving themselves quickly. The demonstrations and violence we saw in Wisconsin in February may be a harbinger of what’s to come.

As conservative columnist and author Ann Coulter, in her latest book Demonic, How the Liberal Mob is Threatening America points out, it is the left that uses mobs and violence as a political tool. It’s not difficult to imagine how it would react to a conservative Republican president that proposes solutions like the one’s Governor Walker proposed in Wisconsin?

Internationally, America’s challenges are evolving rapidly and we are spread thin. The outcome of political upheaval in North Africa and the Middle East is far from certain. Large cuts in U.S. defense spending are coming. The NATO alliance is crumbling. China’s access and influence are expanding.

Rome’s dominance lasted for nearly 1,000 years; and its decline did not come about quickly; but everything happens much faster in the modern world. The Soviet Union (1922-1991) rose and fell in less than 70 years. The world order with America at its hub has been in place since the end of World War II (66 years). A new world order is coming. The question is; will America, its democratic principles, and its free market-capitalist system be its hub? Not without the determination, hard work, and sacrifice Americans are famous for and leaders willing to put their country above partisan politics.