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I couldn't help thinking that the fancy liberal ideas probably were not new - but if they had been tried before, they would have failed so miserably that the society that tried to operate that way would have disappeared without a trace.

One interesting thing here is the robustness of the founding American philosophy. When you look at what is unique about the USA in its founding, there are several notes of interest.

First, the famous "Protestant work ethic" which is still alive and well, and helps our society admire hard work, and make laws to preserve the rewards of hard work. The only place where property rights are fought against is where it appears that the rewards are high for work that is easy or done poorly.

Second, the strong desire for a literate populace is still foundational as it was in the founding when Biblical literacy was seen as essential to salvation of the soul. The reasons have changed and become more wishy-washy, but we still want a literate society.

Third, there is a respect for the rule of law set down from the founding of our country. I heard that even if illegal immigrants from Mexico didn't receive a dime of welfare and hospitalization was difficult to come by, they would still come to the USA. Why? Because police here have to abide by the law. They don't kidnap people and accept bribes, and if there is any wrongdoing by police, it is investigated and punished harshly. Just that makes living in the USA illegally far more preferable than living legally in Mexico.

Fourth, there is still a spirit of frontier and self-defense, though this is waning since our society has little fear anymore of armed foreign cultures pillaging our homes, or even predatory animals. This is probably the forefront of complacency, and I shocked a co-worker when I stated that we needed an armed citizenry to deter invasion from a foreign nation.

I believe these are the four essential philosophies to a successful nation, and they are all rooted in the Protestant Christianity of the time of our founding. While the US is not driven by Protestant Christianity anymore, these philosophies endure and serve as a bulwark against socialist and communist incursions into the public mindset. Sure, the battering of the family and armed self-defense has taken its toll, but it is when hard work is laughed at instead of revered, reading is no longer promoted, and bribery becomes common that we know that the foundation has crumbled.