USA. For many years America remained a nation under the oppressive grip of the old-world God. It had been settled by Calvinists who, writes Barbara Ehrenreich, lived under ‘a system of socially imposed depression’ in which ‘the task for the living was to constantly examine “the loathsome abominations that live in his bosom” seeking to uproot the sinful thoughts that are a sure sign of damnation.’ But when it finally severed its cord with that old world, it became a radically new kind of place. Its founding document, the Declaration of Independence, stated that ‘all men are created equal, that
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