ABSTRACT
Most Protestants in America accept a national self-understanding less self-transcending than that of high-church America. The peculiarly American form of religion is not "cool", like the high civil religion, but "hot". It is composed of five significant qualities: zeal, enthusiasm, messianism, individual conversion, and commitment equally to nation and to God. Billy Graham spoke as though the nation were under a covenant with God: "God will judge any nation that turns its back on Him—especially a nation like America which has been given more privileges and opportunities than any nation in history". People who would otherwise reject George Wallace—and many in this second Protestant tradition do—nevertheless hear in his speech recognizable themes from history: America cries out for leadership. Liberalism as a tradition began by liberating individuals from a restrictive social order. "That government is best which governs least", encapsulates the older tradition.
