[exmarine]

...but the greatest check we have on tyranny is a culture which creates men who do not want to be tyrants in the first place.

I believe it would be more accurate to say "a culture that is virtuous or religious..." Without virtue, the culture will inevitable sway toward corruption, as indeed it has. John Adams said our Constitution was "written for a moral and religious people and it is inadequate for the governmentof any other." It is now inadequate for our people and this can be clearly seen in the absolute perverse reinterpretation of its precepts. When corrupt Men ("darwinian gods")interpret this noble document, they invariably adjust it to their bankrupt and godless worldviews (i.e. the Supreme Court). America in the 1700s was a Christian nation with Christian founders. Today, it is a pagan nation with pagan leaders.

[RonF]

I'm curious as to what you mean by "Christian Nation". If you mean simply that the majority of believers in the nation professed some kind of Christianity, or that the principles that the U.S. was founded on were broadly consonant with Christian principles, then I'd agree with you.

[Chemist_Geek]

I believe it would be more accurate to say "a culture that is virtuous or religious..."

That's assuming religiosity necessarily causes one to be virtous, noble, untyrranical, etc. That is not the case.