Tim Kaine Just Challenged The Founding of America. That Should Alarm Every American

Like most folks, I don’t regularly tune in to Senate hearings. However an exchange between Senators Tim Kaine and Ted Cruz caught my attention.  Senator Tim Kaine revealed something deeply unsettling, something that challenges the very founding idea of America. The Virginia Democrat declared it "extremely troubling" when someone suggested that rights come from God rather than government. To make his point even clearer, he compared this foundational American principle to Iran's theocratic system.

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.

Let that register for a moment: a sitting United States senator just equated Thomas Jefferson's most famous words with radical Islamic fundamentalism and rejected the foundation of the United States.

But Jefferson didn't just write about God-given rights in the Declaration. In the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, he argued that when federal officials exceed their constitutional authority, they're acting without legitimate power. Kaine's rejection of natural rights theory undermines the very foundation Jefferson used to limit federal overreach.

This isn't some fringe academic or campus activist spouting anti-American theory. This is Tim Kaine—former Democratic vice presidential nominee, sitting United States Senator, and until recently, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. When the institutional leader of one of America's two major political parties calls the Declaration of Independence 'troubling,' we're witnessing something far more dangerous than political theater. We're watching a fundamental rejection of American principles from within the highest levels of government itself."

Senator Ted Cruz was visibly shocked. "I almost fell out of my chair," he said, before reminding everyone present of what should be obvious: this "troubling" concept is literally written into our founding documents. Cruz quoted Jefferson directly: "All men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."

Not by the government. Not by politicians. By their Creator.

America’s Foundation Under Attack

This isn't some minor philosophical disagreement between senators. This strikes at the very foundation of American principles and governance. The Founders understood a basic truth that apparently escapes Kaine: if government grants rights, government can revoke them. If rights come from God, they exist beyond the reach of any earthly authority.

Every senator swears an oath to 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States.' But how can Kaine defend a Constitution rooted in natural rights theory while simultaneously calling that theory 'troubling'? The Constitution's entire framework assumes that rights precede government—that's why it says government shall make 'no law' restricting speech, religion, and other fundamental liberties. Kaine isn't just disagreeing with Jefferson; he's repudiating the philosophical foundation of the very document he swore to defend.

This principle doesn't just separate America from historical tyrannies—it created the framework that transformed subjects into citizens. It's why Americans stand as free people rather than bow as servants to the state.

When Kaine dismisses God-given rights as "troubling," he's not just displaying ignorance of American history. He's rejecting the philosophical bedrock that makes our republic possible.

James Madison understood what Kaine apparently doesn't. In Federalist 51, he wrote that government must be designed because 'men are not angels.' The entire constitutional framework assumes that power corrupts—which is precisely why rights must exist independent of those who wield that power. Madison didn't trust government with our liberties in 1787. We shouldn't trust Tim Kaine with them in 2025.

The Iran Comparison Falls Apart

Kaine's attempt to link Jefferson's Declaration to Iran's oppression reveals either stunning ignorance or deliberate deception. Iran represents tyranny not because it acknowledges a deity, but because it denies individual liberty. In Tehran, rights flow from religious authorities—and only to those who submit completely.

America's revolutionary insight was precisely the opposite. By anchoring rights in a Creator rather than human institutions, the Founders stripped rulers of the power to define or distribute liberty as they saw fit. The Declaration's reference to God wasn't establishing theocracy—it was preventing it by placing fundamental rights beyond governmental control.

Equating Jefferson's "unalienable rights" with Iranian oppression is like claiming abolitionists were the same as slaveholders because both quoted Scripture. The comparison collapses under the slightest scrutiny.

Progressive Ideas on Terra Firma in the Democratic Party

Kaine's comments reflect a broader trend among progressives who increasingly want Americans to view government as the ultimate source of all benefits—healthcare, education, even moral guidance. This worldview naturally leads to treating rights as privileges that government distributes at its discretion.

Perhaps most disturbing is what Kaine's comments reveal about the Democratic Party's trajectory. This isn't some off-the-cuff remark from a backbench radical. Kaine has been at the center of Democratic power for decades—governor of Virginia, DNC chairman, Hillary Clinton's running mate. If he represents mainstream Democratic thinking, then one of America's two major parties has fundamentally broken with American founding principles. That's not a political disagreement—that's a constitutional crisis waiting to happen.

This explains why free speech becomes "hate speech" requiring regulation, why religious liberty gets rebranded as "bigotry" requiring correction, and why Second Amendment rights are treated as revocable permissions rather than fundamental protections. In each case, progressives act as though rights are government grants rather than inherent human attributes.

The Founders recognized this mindset as the thinking of monarchs, not republicans. They rejected it in 1776. We should reject it now.

History to the Rescue

Cruz's response wasn't just correcting Kaine's history—it was defending a principle that separates free societies from authoritarian ones. Jefferson's words weren't decorative flourishes. They were revolutionary declarations that liberty exists independent of state approval.

This isn't abstract philosophy. Countries that treat rights as government benefits inevitably evolve into systems that crush dissent, regulate belief, and ration freedom according to political whim. The American Constitution was ratified specifically to prevent this.

Grounding rights in divine origin serves a crucial practical purpose: it limits government power by recognizing authority higher than the state. This humility makes genuine liberty possible.

Some will dismiss this as typical Washington theater, but ideas drive policy, and policy shapes lives. If we allow the Left to redefine rights as state-issued benefits, we lose the primary defense against tyranny. Rights become negotiable, conditional, temporary.

History demonstrates where this path leads. Regimes that view themselves as the source of rights inevitably become regimes that restrict rights. The pattern repeats across cultures and centuries.

The American system works differently because it acknowledges limits on governmental authority. When officials remember that their power is temporary, limited, and accountable to higher principles, freedom survives. When they forget—or actively reject—these constraints, freedom dies.

Tim Kaine was wrong. Dangerously wrong. Rights don't originate in Washington, don't flow from political parties, and don't depend on constitutional documents—constitutions exist to protect them. Rights come from our Creator.

That's not "troubling." That's the foundation of American liberty. 

Consider the implications: we now have a sitting senator from a major political party who views America's founding document as morally equivalent to Iranian theocracy. This is like having a British MP in 1940 declare Churchill's speeches 'troubling' because they mentioned God. When institutional leaders reject the philosophical foundations of their own system, that system is in genuine peril.

If we abandon this foundational principle, we won't remain a free people much longer. 

P.S.

For those concerned about context, here are Senator Kaine's entire remarks.