Senator Tim Kaine didn't just have a bad take yesterday. Somehow, he managed to throw shade at the entire philosophical foundation of the United States.
He actually said this:
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.
Yes, you read that right: Kaine just put Thomas Jefferson and the Ayatollah in the same category.
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.
Mercifully, not everyone in the U.S. Senate is allergic to American history. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, with the precision of a Federalist Paper footnote, fired back:
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.
Later, Cruz added on social media, "Our rights don't come from government or the DNC. They come from God … Go back and read the words of our Founding Fathers."
It's not just that America's God-given rights tradition isn't theocracy, it's actually the firewall against it. The whole point of "unalienable Rights" is that they are outside the reach of kings, Congress, and, yes, even senators from Virginia. It's what prevents an Ayatollah-like madman from picking and choosing what group or sect is worthy of life, liberty, or property, and which group isn't.
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