In several prior posts, I’ve noted the almost unfathomable ignorance politicians in positions of great authority sometimes display about basic aspects of our Constitution and our heritage. In 2018, for example, I wrote about the U.S. Senator who blasted the then-Attorney General for saying that our legal system was based on that of England. The Senator, Brian Schatz (D.-Haw.), claimed the A-G was issuing a “racist dog-whistle.” What lawmaker Schatz didn’t know was that our legal system is in fact based on that of England. The Senator’s own home state even has a law to that effect.
Rounding out that post’s list of ignoramuses were:
* Another U.S. Senator—Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.)—who, although deeply involved in financial legislation, had said things that showed she had no clue about how the private sector worked.
* A long-time House Judiciary Committee Chairman—John Conyers (D.-Mich.)— who claimed the Constitution’s “Good and Welfare Clause” justifies Obamacare. Of course, the Constitution has no “Good and Welfare Clause.”
* A state governor—Marc Racicot (R.-Mont.)—who had no idea of whether his own state’s budget had gone up or down.
Earlier this year, I documented how the same “deep ignorance” and intellectual laziness afflicts the Colorado legislature. Forty-four of the 100 lawmakers—apparently without investigation—signed onto a bill to sue the taxpayers and get a court to void TABOR. Apparently none of them bothered to check enough to learn that the courts uniformly reject that kind of lawsuit.
Of all of these examples of stupidity, however, that of U.S. Senator Tim Kaine reigns supreme. In a recent Senate hearing he roasted Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for opining that human rights come from our Creator, not from the government. Kaine compared Rubio’s comment to the theocratic views of the tyrants who control Iran. According to Kaine, the idea that rights come from God is “alarming.”
If so, he must be terrified by our country’s Declaration of Independence!
“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, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . .”
And the man who wrote those words was no theocrat. Thomas Jefferson was one of the most religiously-liberal American Founders.
Even aside from the fact that the Declaration of Independence states is our country’s founding creed, this passage is among the most famous in the history of the world. How could Kaine have missed it?
Or perhaps a better question is, “How do people this stupid get promoted to positions of power?” After all, Kaine is not only a U.S. Senator, but in 2016 came within a hair’s-breadth of being elected Vice President.
Why wasn’t his ignorance exposed long ago?
The answer, I think, is that Kaine, like all the other politicians listed above, are loyal members of a ruling oligarchy whose propaganda arm is the mainstream media. Those who control the propaganda apparatus protect them from their mistakes.
By contrast, any politicians who opposes the oligarchy and makes this kind of stupid mistake is liable to be laughed off the political stage. The standards they must meet to survive are much higher. It was failure to understand this that helps explain why President Trump’s first term was not more successful, why he was defeated in 2020, and why he didn’t win by a bigger margin in 2024.
