转贴一段话有感当今美国在背离它的origin

Part II of C Bradley Thompson's series on reply to his critics is also an excellent read, and furthers his argument that the American Revolution was an Enlightenment revolution of individual rights, and not a Christian revolution of the common good.
"American constitutionalism, as it was established at the time of the founding, was grounded on a principle the opposite of the Aristotelian-Puritan dictum (i.e., “what the law does not command, it forbids”) and all forms of Christian politics up to the Reformation. For America’s founders, the law permits what it does not forbid. In America’s individual-rights republic, the law forbids the initiation of coercive force or fraud, but it otherwise leaves men alone to pursue their spiritual and material values free of government interference. The purpose of government in America is to “secure these rights.” The Declaration says nothing about making men good, virtuous, pious, or promoting the “common good” above and beyond protecting rights, despite the fact that America’s revolutionary Patriots all believed in the importance of living a good, virtuous, and pious life."