Root Cause?

This post over at instapundit caught my eye with this quote:

This is primarily an effect of the Calvinist Puritan roots of American progressivism. Just as Calvinists believed in the centrality of the depravity of man, with the exception of a miniscule contingent of the Elect of God, their secularized descendants believe in the depravity and cursedness of Western civilization, with their own enlightened selves in the role of the Elect.

I found this very interesting. As a Wesleyan, I'm going to think this over for a bit and comment on it.