The last time people spoke so openly against American foundational principles, they seceded from the Union.
In a remarkable clip posted Wednesday to the social media platform X, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia — or perhaps the demon that has taken up residence in Kaine’s soul — described the Declaration of Independence’s core principle of natural rights as “extremely troubling.”
Replies from X users, including Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, should compel Kaine to apologize for his pro-slavery statement. But we probably should not hold our collective breath.
The Declaration of Independence’s second sentence reads as follows:
“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.”
That statement defines what it means to be an American. Emigrate to the United States (legally), accept that creed, and you may join the American political community. Nothing — not ethnicity, not skin color, not any other aspect of your identity — defines you as an outsider. If you accept that our rights come from God, and that from these natural rights we deduce natural equality, then you belong.
Incredibly, a sitting U.S. Senator openly rejected that creed.
“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,” Kaine said.
“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… pic.twitter.com/XcrPHbVplp
— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) September 4, 2025
Do you think Democrats despise what the United States really stands for?
One could argue that not since the Civil War has a public figure uttered anything less American or more dangerous.
“Our rights don’t come from government or the DNC. They come from God. @timkaine, I suggest the Dems go back and read the words of our Founding Fathers,” Cruz replied.
Our rights don’t come from government or the DNC.
They come from God. @timkaine, I suggest the Dems go back and read the words of our Founding Fathers. pic.twitter.com/QRmhTcbbOH
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 3, 2025
Meanwhile, conservative commentator Matt Walsh recognized the gravity of Kaine’s diabolical assertion.
“This is a remarkable moment from Tim Kaine,” Walsh wrote. “He just announced that the core foundational principle of our country, affirmed in the Declaration of Independence, is ‘extremely troubling’ and ‘theocratic.’ He should be immediately removed from office. Anyone who rejects our nation’s foundational principles is obviously not fit to serve.”
This is a remarkable moment from Tim Kaine. He just announced that the core foundational principle of our country, affirmed in the Declaration of Independence, is “extremely troubling” and “theocratic.” He should be immediately removed from office. Anyone who rejects our nation’s… https://t.co/Dm7hRjMaKb
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 4, 2025
A history teacher called it “the most shocking thing I’ve heard a Democrat say in awhile and a former VP nominee no less.”
Indeed, one easily forgets that Kaine served as Hillary Clinton’s vice-presidential running mate in 2016.
As a US History teacher this is the most shocking thing I’ve heard a Democrat say in awhile and a former VP nominee no less.
If there’s any single sentence that binds our nation it is this one…
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that…
— Anthony Galli (@RallyWithGalli) September 4, 2025
“If rights come from government, government can take them away,” another X user correctly noted. “But they don’t. They come from our Creator. May God help us to raise up a generation of leaders for our nation that love God and His Word.”
If rights come from government, government can take them away.
But they don’t. They come from our Creator.
May God help us to raise up a generation of leaders for our nation that love God and His Word. https://t.co/fsqDKDHGB5
— Philip Rabon (@philiprabon) September 4, 2025
To understand why a historian would find Kaine’s statement astonishing, consider the arguments of pro-slavery apologists before the Civil War.
“Men are not ‘born entitled to equal rights!’” antebellum Southern pro-slavery theorist George Fitzhugh wrote in 1854. “It would be far nearer the truth to say, ‘that some were born with saddles on their backs, and others booted and spurred to ride them,’ — and the riding does them good. They need the reins, the bit and the spur.”
Fitzhugh also dismissed Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, as an “enthusiastic speculative philosopher.”
When people of any era dismiss Jefferson, for instance by removing statues of him, consider them up to no good.
Seven years later, Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens also rejected Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence.
“The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically,” Stephens said of Jefferson and the Founding Fathers.
“Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea;” Stephens added moments later, “its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.”
It bears noting, too, that late-19th and early-20th-century progressives also denigrated the American Founding. That explains, for instance, why former President Barack Obama’s White House featured and celebrated Theodore Roosevelt’s 1910 “New Nationalism” speech. But that subject would require a commentary of its own.
In short, if you believe that rights come from God, then you cannot defend slavery (or abortion, for that matter).
On the other hand, if you believe that rights come not from God but from laws and government, then you can talk yourself into defending any abomination, including slavery and abortion.
People who think as Kaine does cannot hold power in a republic.
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