Given the sorry state of civic education, most people can be forgiven their ignorance of the nuances of constitutional theory and the practical operations of government. But there is nothing forgivable about those who would willfully misrepresent the very character of our rights as individuals.
Several weeks ago, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia pontificated against the notion that rights come from “the Creator.” He was adamant that rights instead come from government in the form of laws that people—like him—choose to bestow. Indeed, he compared those who hold that rights come from the Creator to the “theocratic” impulses of Iran’s ayatollahs.
For a little context, Tim Kaine was the Democrats’ nominee to be the vice president of the United States in 2016 on the ticket with Hillary Clinton. He has been in the U.S. Senate since 2013 and served in public office since the mid-1990s.
To say he knows better would be an understatement. He is a Harvard-educated lawyer. Yet, he was emphatic and never backed down.
Our Declaration of Independence is equally emphatic, declaring that:
“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, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
What was self-evident to our founding fathers is now declared heretical by some of our nation’s governing elite.
The reason should be equally self-evident. If rights come from government, rather than God, then they can also be taken away. Anchoring the rights of life, liberty, and property to the whims of government officials is the surest way to see those rights sacrificed on the altar of governing expediency.
Your rights are an impediment to those who wish to rule over you. Your rights are inconvenient to the whims of tyrants.
Our rights come from God. The only legitimate government is one that protects those rights.
It is up to us as the citizen-leaders of this republic to never forget that.
