A society's character derives from its moral commitments, not its government. [causal]
The very character of a society is uniquely determined by its moral commitments, and by these commitments it is defined. … The modalities of American constitutional argument do not depend upon a moral justification to legitimate limited government. A society need not lose its cultural character, therefore, when it places its government under law.
Philip Chase Bobbitt, Philip Chase Bobbitt - Refl…, loc. 92