What is most fundametally American is the rejection of tradition. Back when the intellectuals of Europe had all realized how stupid and harmful monarchies were, but were afraid to do anything about it, America's intellectuals actually talked this country into throwing off it's monarchy. Back when tradition in the rest of the world dictated a single national faith, and England went so far as to have the head of the national religion and the State be the same person, America experimented with the radically liberal notion of erecting a wall between church and state and allowing everyone to worship or not according to the dictates of his own heart. We were a nation of radicals, pushing bravely against the confines of tradition and received wisdom, with the express intention of forming a more perfect union to promote our general welfare. How sad to see us degenerate into mere conservatism, after having started from such lofty heights of unprecedented liberalism.