The Penultimate Convention Night: American Totalitarianism's Face

What ideas founded America?  Of course, the American Revolutionaries didn't agree amongst themselves, and they likely didn't even have a consistent view of history.  One important source that all sides favored was Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, this includes Washington, Hamilton, John Adams, John Jay and Madison.  Another important work was the Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.  They both said that the military was often the destroyer of liberties.  James Madison, in the Federalist Papers, wrote the same thing. 

Why does America have freedom?  If you ask Mike Huckabee or Sarah Palin, our freedoms come from our military.