Peter Augustine Lawler on much our democracy owes the Puritans :
Theres little less fashionable today than praising the Puritans, especially for their egalitarian political idealism, their promotion of genuinely humane and liberating learning, and their capacity for enjoyment and human happiness. Praising the Puritans is especially difficult for us because even most of our Protestants have abandoned them. When a European calls us Puritanical we dont say, yes, thanks a lot, youre right. Instead, we either deny it, saying were way beyond those days. Or we admit it, saying that, yes, we should be less capitalistic, less repressed, and more free thinking, just like you. But the truth is that the Puritans remain the chief source of the American differenceour ability to live freely and prosperously without unduly slighting the longings of our souls. Its the Puritans idealism that made and even makes Americans civilized.