The reason is that these people will claim that they are too busy to set aside time for socialising. They can justify time out of their hectic schedule for shul, because it fits in with their religious perception of themselves. However, once they are there, they realise that they actually prefer socialising to davening and that, now that they have committed themselves to spending that time in shul, they might as well make the most of it and have a chat.

I agree that if people understood the tefilot better, things might improve. However, many people don't want to understand the tefilot better. They see shul, during tefila, as a time when they can socialise, but still achieve some basic function of religious practice. Other events within the shul, will not absolve them of the responsibility to visit shul at sha'at tefila (whether they perceive this responsibility as 3 times a day, once a week or 3 times a year is irrelevant) and so they will not attend these.

I wish I had better solutions to suggest, but sadly I do not.

The Declaration of Independence repeatedly notes that G-d is the source of all rights, and that a reliance on Divine Providence was essential. Justice Joseph Story approvingly quotes the Constitution of Massachusetts that no civil polity can safely exist without the morality enshrined by religion, and Justice Story also cites Locke as agreeing with this.

Alexander Hamilton considered “the French Revolution to be no more akin to the American Revolution than the faithless wife in a French novel is like the Puritan matron in New England.”

The American Revolution ought to be seen as entirely unlike the French Revolution – which was fought against G-d – and instead as being more akin to the Dutch rebellion against Spain, and the English Civil War and Glorious Rebellion, all of which were Puritanistic rebellions fought in defense of Reformed Christianity against improper usurpation of religious prerogatives by the civil government.

For the colonial American, liberty primarily meant the freedom to worship G-d properly, and the separation of church and state was in fact invented by Martin Luther, as a protection of religion from interference by the state. In fact, James Madison cited Luther as the source for the separation of church and state. Liberty, for the colonial American, and the pursuit of happiness, both meant the freedom to worship G-d and avoid immoral vice.

Benjamin Franklin proposed, for America's seal, a depiction of the Egyptians drowning in the sea, with the motto, “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.” Jefferson objected that this was too violent, and he preferred a depiction of the Jews walking in the desert, with the pillars of cloud and fire. But Jefferson still enjoyed Franklin's motto, and used it on his own stationary.

We might also note that one of the primary sources of agitation for rebellion against Britain was fear that Anglican episcopacy would be enforced on America. And even regarding purely civil rights, such as protests against overtaxation, were viewed in a religious light, as indicated by the Declaration of Independence.

In short, I see no contradiction whatsoever between the American and Jewish conceptions. The American one was fundamentally a religious Christian one, one which I believe has much in common with a traditional Jewish one.

Where I sharply differ with you is your assertion that the academic world is the world of Adam the First, but the Beit Midrash is the world of Spiritual Man. Many academics enter the academy precisely because they have a lishma connection to their field of study. There are rules within academia that quantify its essential qualities, but the same is true of halacha. Academics are in pursuit of Truth, just like students of Torah.

We must acknowledge that neither pole of your dichomoty is ideal. The quest for quantity can never be satisfied because of Man’s limits and limitations. However, living just for quality can become isolating and self-serving too. Like with all of Judaism’s teachings on the matter, in this too we constantly move from one to the other – climbing the mountain to experience revelation, then coming down the mountain and teaching, categorizing, and organizing that revelation into laws.