Yup, sometimes we forget that the US struggled to create a republic that was different for good reasons. If you read the Bill Of Rights, (the first ten ammendments to the US Constitution), it is essentially outlining some of the real problems and struggles that colonial America had dealing with British despotism. Many of the ammendments outlined specific rights that people wanted spelled out, so that there would be no ambiguity. Madison originally didn't want them, because he felt they were already implied in the Constitution. Later, he actually drafted them, and wrote that he felt they made the document stronger in the end.

We're not perfect, but maybe we still are "the last best hope"