[Pontiac]

All the words generated in the US, the constitution, the declaration of independence, all the law libraries, which Americans like to worship, are futile superstitions. Merest words.

Your point has some truth to it, but only a little.

Without the rule of law, the right to own property and the fruits of your labor unmolested by government, technological advancement does little.

Look at the USSR.

They had all of the same technology of the US (much of it stolen from the US) and yet their people did not prosper from it

Technology with out freedom is stunted and prosperity only benefits the powerful.

[unread]

"Without the rule of law, the right to own property and the fruits of your labor unmolested by government, technological advancement does little."

And there, ladies and gentleman, you have the definitive difference between a "Republic" and a "Democracy".

[marktwain]

Without the rule of law, the right to own property and the fruits of your labor unmolested by government, technological advancement does little.

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You and I are saying pretty much the same thing.

However, much technological advance was made in Europe between 1400 and 1700, setting the stage for the Industrial Revolution. The Reformation and the Renaissance overlap in that period. They were highly dependent on each other. They were, in effect parts of the same revolution in human thought.