Modern history teachers tend to ignore that the US's original values are based on the Greeks and Romans rather than Christianity.

Non-protestant Christianity aren't big on democracy, but the Greeks are. The Christians that did not take everything at face value and the elites don't rush to kill unless they are out of villains (aka things like Judeo Christianity or Catholicism) want every bit of dystopian control imaginable, it's literally in their doctrine, and they get away with it throughout the middle ages, hence all the medieval horror stories you see in fiction.