Someone mentioned economic death. I find that interesting because I have been thinking on a certain perspective for a number of years since living in Europe. Consider that the USA was founded by Freemasons based on a philosophy book written sometime in the 1500's, I believe. This book outlined the ideas of democracy- governance by the people. The Freemasons used the Roman system but replaced the emperor with an elected official. The USA is a secular nation. Note that all Holidays in the USA are purely secular as opposed to Europe where almost, but not all Holidays are religious. The USA's founding documents use the word, "God" but this seems to be more to appease the religious colonies at the time to achieve consensus and ratification. The idea of Freedom is difficult to define. It's clear that religious freedom was part of the concept. The freedom to move freely about the country was another- which was much more controlled in Europe. Freedom of choices for our own lives such as career, marriage and where to live seem to have been a key concept as well. My point is: one thing for sure is that America got away from the fiefdoms of Europe in the Middle Ages. These fiefdoms had the Lord or Lords, Earls and Dukes, magistrates, sheriffs and ultimately, the peasants. Kinda of ironic how corporations stepped in to replace the fiefdoms. We have the CEO's, directors, managers and on down that play the same politics as in the courts of the middle ages and these corporations have control over the life and death of our careers. The business world has more to do with our freedoms and culture than we may realize.