Who needs John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, or any other Founding Father when we have Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) – the newest wannabe Framer.
In remarks before a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Kaine made a disheveled attempt to rewrite foundational American values:
The notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from the government, but come from the Creator — that’s what the Iranian government believes. It’s a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Sharia law and targets Sunnis, Bahá’ís, Jews, Christians and other religious minorities. And they do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their Creator. So the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.
Come again? It sounds like the senator just rejected the core principle of the Declaration of Independence – an effort to push God out of the public square. We need your support to make sure Tim Kaine doesn’t get his way. Take action with us and add your name to the petition: Defeat the Left’s War Against Christians.
Thomas Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence are clear: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...” This phrase was integral – revolutionary! It represented a radical departure from centuries of governance where rulers claimed to bestow rights at their discretion. By affirming that rights are “unalienable” – unable to be taken away – the Founders established that freedom is inherent in every person simply by virtue of being created in the image of God.
Thankfully, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was attending the same hearing and ripped into the absurdity:
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I just walked into the hearing as he was saying that, and I almost fell out of my chair, because that ‘radical and dangerous notion’ – in his words – is literally the founding principle upon which the United States of America was created. . . .“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator” – not by government, not by the Democratic National Committee, but by God – with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
And Cruz brought the point home: “I have to say, it is stunning to me that the principle that God has given us natural rights is now deemed by Democrats some radical and dangerous notion. . . . Mr. Jefferson was right when he wrote those words. Government exists to protect those rights.”
The same principle – that rights come from our Creator, not government – fueled abolitionists and civil rights leaders. Frederick Douglass pointed to the Declaration’s words as a rebuke of slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. called it a “promissory note” to all Americans. In every generation, reformers have appealed to the truth that unalienable rights belong to every human being, and that governments betray their duty when they fail to secure them.
Believing our rights come from our Creator is not just a matter of history; it is a call to stewardship and preservation. If rights are God-given, then each generation bears the responsibility to protect them – not only for us, but for our children. At the ACLJ, every case we take and argument we make is made with this in mind – because we know there will always be politicians like Tim Kaine trying to shift power to the state.
The Founders risked their lives and fortunes to defend this truth. Countless others have sacrificed to preserve it. Our attorneys have chosen to sacrifice positions at firms to defend liberty with the ACLJ. And as Americans, we inherit the duty of defending liberty in our homes and in the public square. Our task is to ensure that the principle proclaimed in 1776 – that our rights are endowed by our Creator – remains more than words. It must be the heartbeat of our nation. Help us ensure God remains central to America’s purpose. Take action with us and add your name to the petition: Defeat the Left’s War Against Christians.
Tim Kaine’s comments were atrocious, but it was a reminder to sit down with our families and, once again, instill in them the roots of liberty.
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