Our rights come from God, not politicians

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., recently drew national attention for his views on the source of U.S. citizens’ rights. The issue is whether we have inalienable rights or simply rights conferred by political patrons that can change at the whim of a majority. Unfortunately, Kaine seems to think it’s the latter.

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, a nominee for assistant secretary of state said the U.S. was founded on the principle “that all men are created equal because our rights come from God, our Creator; not from our laws, not from our governments.”

Kaine objected, saying, “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 Shia law and targets Sunnis, Bahá’ís, Jews, Christians, and other religious minorities. 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. I’m a strong believer in natural rights, but I have a feeling if we were to have a debate about natural rights in the room and put people around the table with different religious traditions, there would be some significant differences in the definitions of those natural rights.” 

The problem with Kaine’s view is it means our rights are dependent on who is in power. If rights come from the government, then slavery was not wrong because it was explicitly approved by the government prior to the Civil War.

When our nation’s founders signed the Declaration of Independence, declaring that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are unalienable rights endowed by our Creator, they were saying those rights cannot be taken away by government because they are bestowed by God.

If our rights simply come from the government, we cannot complain about “losing” any rights—because those rights were tethered to majority whims. That’s not how our country works. Indeed, the rights enjoyed by all have included the right to live one’s life in ways embraced by only a small minority.

A friend of mine quips that the dividing line between today’s conservatives and liberals is that political conservatives still love the United States, but liberals aren’t so sure. Kaine’s musing on the origin of our rights is one example of that trend.

It’s tempting to dismiss Kaine’s comment as the product of ignorance and move on. But the worldview he espoused has been embraced by too many, and the rest of us must push back. Being a country where citizens’ rights come from God doesn’t make the U.S. into Iran, but the same can’t be said for a system where citizens’ rights rely on politicians.