"Ready… set…"

Last night on TV Glenn recapped everything happening around the globe and most of it isn’t good. Glenn says the perfect storm that’s been brewing for years may finally be coming ashore. Look at all of the unrest and ugly hatreds rising in Europe and elsewhere right now - and this before a real economic depression hits. What happens when the economy takes a deep dive? It’s go time.

Below is a transcript of this segment

I’ve told you for the last year that I kept hearing in my prayers that I would hear every time I’d pick up the newspaper and so it begins. And so it begins…that was last year. This year I am getting a different call. In fact, I’m starting to understand and so it begins a little bit more. This, I think, is the beginning of all of the things. These are the beginnings of sorrows.

These are the labor pangs, if you will, of the things yet to come, and they have begun. The water has broken. But today I was talking in a meeting, and I really think that a better way to explain this is you’re at a starting line, and when you’re at a starting line, they always say three things. What are they? Everybody knows—ready, set, go. Why do they say that, instead of just go? Because you’re not ready. Ready, set, go.

Anybody who is standing at the starting line…you’re in the Olympics, and you want to win. If they say ready, set, and you’re just standing around, and then they say go, you’re going to lose. I believe last year when I told you and so it begins, that was ready. I believe what happened in France was set, and we’re about to hear go.

I don’t know what’s coming our way, but it is trouble, and so there are things that we have to discuss and things that we have to do, because I really, truly believe, and I’ve always said this, I believe for some strange reason, and maybe I’m completely wrong, maybe I’m nuts, but I really truly believe that this audience will help pull the world away from the brink of insanity, and insanity is coming in spades as you will see tonight.

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There are four things that I believe that are true about all of us, and it doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich, you’re poor, you’re black, white. It just doesn’t matter, liberal or conservative. We all want to belong to something bigger than us, and that is our nation. That is our family. That is our job. Who wants to go to work every day, and you’re just time to make the donuts, man?

If you’re making the donuts and you know that people are coming in, and it really enhances people’s day, well, then you’ve got meaning in your job, but we all want to believe that we belong to something bigger than us and better than us.

Two, we all want to be heard. We don’t necessarily all expect to get our own way all the time, but we want someone to listen to us. Three, we all want control of our lives. We know that sometimes our lives will get out of control, but we want that system and that sense that yes, I can affect the outcome of my life, not my neighbors, not anybody else, but my life. And four, we generally all want to live in peace, I think. I know I do.

I know, everybody I know, we’re going to have arguments. We’re going to have strife. We’re not going to get together as family or neighbors all the time, but generally we all just at the end of the day are like look, we’re going to agree to disagree, let’s just move on. Can we just agree to disagree? Yes, if we have something to unite on. So, what is that that unites us?

We used to be a melting pot. I remember my family used to say that to me all the time, America is a melting pot. We’re not a melting pot anymore. Nobody comes here and melts into us. You were supposed to come here and bring what was great, the best part. Leave all the crap behind. Bring the best part and melt in and be an American.

We used to say that America was truth, justice, and the American way, but what is that? Does anybody know? Is it truth? Is it justice? Our culture has gradually disintegrated since the dawn of the progressive era to the point to where it’s in our national interest, violates our principles, and that’s what I want to talk to about, national interest over national principles.

This is the root of our problem in our decision making. We know, for instance, that it is in our national interest to have cheap oil, right? Everybody wants cheap oil. I don’t want to pay a lot for gas. It helps me get to work. It helps us build things. If we have cheap energy, it’s in our national interest, but it is not our national principle to have cheap oil. It’s in our national interest. There is a huge difference, but we no longer talk about our principles anymore.

Because of our principles, we know yes, our interests tell us we want cheap oil, but our principles tell us we don’t have the right to kill people or take over a country and just steal their oil. No war for oil reflects our national principle—principles over interest.

Is it in our national interest now to be in a war in the Middle East? Is it? Why? What core American principle is compelling us now to remain in a war with unclear goals that is sapping the creativity of a nation, killing its own citizens, killing citizens elsewhere, leading to the loss of perhaps an entire generation? I can’t think of one, and here’s why I can’t, because I can tell you it’s in our national interest not to be killed and slaughtered by Islamic jihad people, but we won’t even admit that. We won’t even admit that, and that’s an interest, not a principle.

I’m kind of focused on this because last night I saw American Sniper, and I sat next to Taya Kyle, Chris Kyle’s wife. I watched Lone Survivor sitting next to Marcus Luttrell, and I watched this sitting next to Taya Kyle, and my daughter was with me. And my daughter, God bless her, walked out of the theater together and composed, and the minute we walked out, we got into the back of the theater and we went out by the screen, so we were in the back alley. She took three steps, the door closed, and she turned to me, and she buried her head in my chest, and she just started to cry.

She said, “Dad, what do we do now? We see this now, what do we do?” We know what’s happening. I’ll give you my review of the movie later on in the hour, but we have to solve this. Most of all the problems we face, if not all of them, can be traced back to interests over principles, and the loss of our principles is what’s led to the loss of our culture, the loss of our guiding principles and values.

Try this, are we a Judeo-Christian nation, yes or no? It’s a yes-or-no question. No, “Well, I don’t know…” No, yes or no, are we a Judeo-Christian nation? The answer is very clear. Historically it is very clear. Look at the artwork. Go to the Supreme Court, see what is sitting behind the justice. The bench, what’s sitting there? Moses, Moses. We are clearly a Judeo-Christian nation.

Now, here’s why this matters. If you say no, okay, all right, then what are we basing our laws on? What is the basis of our society? Because out of that Judeo-Christian value comes our charity and our kindness and our basic rules—don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal. And by avoiding this conversation, what happens is we coddle those who disagree with Judeo-Christian values, and that has led to confusion at best, because now what one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces, and that’s what’s coming our way.

We’re not just coddling those who disagree now. We are becoming openly hostile to our own foundation, the principles that set us up. We have tolerated and excused and embraced the ideals that are in direct opposition to our founding principles.

Let me ask you this, if I woke you up in the dead of night, and I said to you, “Hey, which one do you choose, which one do you want, is it God or is it Satan,” which one? I would be surprised…I mean, I could imagine that the atheists, what 2%, 3%, 10%, they would say well, I don’t know, but I don’t want either one of them. I select science. Fine. Everybody else, 99.9993 would say, “Uh…God. Now, can I go back to sleep?” Right?

Satan, we know that’s a bad concept. It’s evil. Schools in Orange County, Florida, have now banned Bibles, going against our principles, Judeo-Christian values, because Satanists have threatened to pass out information pamphlets to the students, so we tolerate it because we’re afraid. There’s not even enough spine left to stand up to Satanists, and we lie to ourselves, and we say well, it’s our principles. We believe in free speech. It’s not our principles of free speech. This is national suicide.

You cannot violate your principles over and over and over again. Now, it’s not too late to turn it around, but I warn you, ready, set, go is coming. Meanwhile, as the willingness to defend Christianity rides off into the sunset, Duke University has planned to start a weekly campus-wide Muslim call-to-prayer from the tower of their church chapel. How many towns in America don’t allow the bells to ring anymore because it’s a nuisance?

But now a Muslim call-to-prayer from the Duke University church chapel. So you know, just before the show, they scrapped that plan. The university said Muslims will instead gather on the quad before heading into the chapel for their weekly prayer service, but without principle, decisions are based on what’s going to make this problem go away or what do I need today? And I warn you, what you need today is not what you’re going to need tomorrow.

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If I got everything I ever prayed for, I would have married a very stupid supermodel at about 18. Would that be a celebration of my principles today? No, that would have been my in my 18-year-old interests, not necessarily something that lasts a long time. We do things now to make people happy, to make people shut up, to take the path of least resistance, make problems go away, and we’re doing it without standing up for our own principles, and without principle, no individual, no nation will stand for long. Look what happens to a nation without principles.

There was another homegrown terrorist busted in America, Ohio, yesterday, inspired by ISIS. He wanted to set off a series of bombs and kill a bunch of lawmakers. His plan was to detonate pipe bombs at the U.S. Capitol building and start gunning down anyone who fled the building. Officials were quick to call this, of course, say it with me, a lone wolf attack. Why? Because it’s in their interests.

Public pressure, political correctness, they want to admit that they are in control, that they were not wrong. They want you to believe that things are okay, you’re safe. Many of them don’t actually believe in actual evil, I think. I think there are some people who are so blinded by their hatred of our original principles, and they don’t even know their own that they embrace anything and everything that goes against our founding principles, even if it doesn’t make sense.

Think of this, think of the people who are embracing…the homosexual community that is standing up for the people like ISIS or the people over in the Middle East, Hamas, that will kill homosexuals that fast. That doesn’t make any sense. Why? Because they’re playing what’s in their interest, and their interest in many ways to some is to destroy the principles and the values of America and the West.

They want you now to believe that it’s just one crazy guy and nothing to worry about, but you know that’s not true. Truth, justice, and the American way, the truth is there have been so many lone wolf attacks around the globe, commentators are now calling it a wolf pack, a wolf pack of lone wolves. It’s either a lone wolf for a pack. Which one is it?

Europe tried the nothing-to-see-here approach. They embraced multiculturalism. They allowed their founding principles and their values which weren’t very strong in the first place to be eroded into meaninglessness, and their lack of meaning is going to lead them back to the same Fascism and the same Communism that we saw occupy Europe in the 20th century.

People are now being pushed into extremism. It’s not that hard to figure out. It’s not a justification of it. It’s just stating a fact. Europe has been crumbling. The basic comforts of life are being ripped from underneath them, and it is the natural reaction because everybody wants to belong to something, and I don’t want to belong to the EU. I don’t even know what the EU stands for. What’s the EU’s principle? Money, the European economic system. That’s not strong enough.

People want their homeland. They want their family. They want to believe in something that is rooted in tradition. So, people like Golden Dawn and other extremists are there ready to give you that tradition. They’re ready to give you that answer, and that answer will always be it’s them, it’s the Jew, it’s the immigrant, it’s the person different than you. A German plan now has…there’s a town in Germany that has a bunch of refugees coming in.

Now, in your wildest dreams, if you know who you are as Germans, in your wildest dream and you’ve learned your lesson, when you have a bunch of unwanted refugees, does anybody suggest hey, why don’t we put them up in the old concentration camp? No, but they just did. They’re now heading down the same path.

France—listen to these stats—France has 6 million Muslims. If you believe in the lone wolf and say it’s not the majority of Muslims, which I subscribe to, it’s not the majority of Muslims, but if you say the radical-to-moderate Muslim ratio around the globe is true in France, and I’m going to take the lowest estimate. Some people say it’s as high as 10%. Some people say it’s as high as 40% in the Middle East, but let’s just say some people say it’s 10. I’m going to say it’s 1%, 1%. In France, that leaves you with 60,000 jihadists in that one country alone, 60,000 lone wolves.

Germany has 5 million Muslims. One percent, that’s on the uber low side of radicalized Muslims, that’s 50,000 jihadists in Germany minimum. You get the idea. There are hundreds of thousands of radical jihadists roaming Western Europe alone, and they are here. They’re in Canada. They’re in Australia. They’re everywhere, and we won’t even recognize it. Wake up! It is not in our national interest. It’s a national priority to reconnect with our principles so we can stand against evil.

What we saw in France and other “lone wolf” attacks ignores the problem if we don’t address it, if we don’t say it out loud. It would be like looking at a concentration camp in Buchenwald and say well, that’s just an isolated incident. Buchenwald, okay, sure, you know, that’s run by Wilhelm, Buchenwald, but Auschwitz, Auschwitz, that’s in Poland. I mean, you know, you can’t connect all of these concentration camps together. These are lone wolves, isolated incidents, nothing to see here. Excuse me? They’re united in their hatred, and by letting the problem fester, it only gets worse.

History is repeating itself, and I don’t think Americans…I don’t think most Americans have a problem with immigrants. I really don’t. We all are immigrants, but it has to be somebody who’s coming in here the right way, doing the right thing, melting into us. We welcome those people. That’s the second part of it. You have to be willing to embrace our culture.

I look at that list of those four things—we all want to live in peace. That means I can disagree with you, but I can say you know what, Bob, we’re neighbors, we all want the same basic thing, let’s just agree to disagree. It’s why I decided to visit the border. I have relatives and friends whose parents came from places like Italy or Korea, and their parents speak the native tongue. They also speak English, but they speak the native tongue.

But their kids, none of my friends whose parents are first-generation, none of them speak a lick of the language of the country they came from, not one. They all speak English. Why? Because as my Uncle Leo would say, you’re in America now. You adapt. You came here to live. You become part of the culture, just like you would if you went to live in Germany or Mexico or France or England. But you have to have a culture. What is our culture? Truth, justice, American way.

Who stands for truth? Business? Citibank is willing to put taxpayers on the hook for a bailout because it was in their self interest. What happened to the principle of personal responsibility? That was a principle. Churches, synagogues, are they standing up? Are they willing to take on their own tax exempt status? Are they willing to say you know what, I don’t care, I’ll lose this mega-church. I’ll got out in the street and preach poor if I have to because this is right?

Is anybody standing up for our military after 14 years of war? You know, World War II, World War II, think of all the documentaries and all the films and all the things that happened. That was four years, four, count ’em. We’re in year 14 of this never-ending war. Why? And why am I the guy on the television asking that question? Where are the protesters now? Where is the media with their daily death counts? Remember?

Every single month, 65 soldiers died over in Iraq today, 55 last month, 47 last month. It’s getting worse. Where are they? People, women, men, still dying. I haven’t seen a death count since Bush left office. Why? Why? Because it’s no longer in their interest. It was never about principles. International answer, it was never about principles. It was about politics. CNN and their death count, the New York Times and their death count, it’s not about principles.

The massive debt obligation that we are heaping on an entire generation of children who will be forced to reap what we have sown, who is going to pay for our generation’s recklessness? Hey, I’ve got an idea. You know what, I’ll tell you what, why don’t you and I, let’s go to the Bugatti store today, you and I. We’ll both go buy a Bugatti, and I’m going to take a loan out on my children’s life so my children will pay for it when they turn 30. They’ll pay for the Bugatti now, but we’ll have a Bugatti. It’ll be great—greed and lies.

I’ve been reading the Torah lately. The best thing in the Torah is this so far, the very beginning. I know, I’m running out of time. The best thing about the Torah that I’m reading right now is it says “in the beginning of God’s creating.” It’s not in the beginning God, created the heavens. In the beginning of God’s creating…how fantastic is that? He’s been around for a while.

Now, let me show you, here’s the beginning of His creating. But the word God, if you read it in the King James Version or anything else, we just get one word. Jews really have it going. They’ve got all kinds of words for God. This one is justice, meaning that when God created the heavens and the earth, He created it with justice, which means warning: The events will always bend back towards justice, because the entire system was built for justice.

Race riots, anti-cop violence, extremists that are rising, the Fascists, the anti-Semitism, all of this stuff is happening. It’s going to be wiped out because the whole universe is bending towards justice. It might take a while. We might have to go to hell, but real economic strife hasn’t even come ashore yet. What happens when it really gets ugly? All this stuff that is happening now, it hasn’t even started.

People still have their frickin’ iPhone. What happens to that person who hasn’t been paying attention to the news, all of a sudden their livelihood is taken away? All of a sudden they’re like wait a minute, what do you mean I can’t have my iPhone? Wait a minute, what do you mean? Somebody’s going to be willing to say, “It’s those guys over there.” It’s the immigrants, they took your job. It’s the Jews. It’s the conservatives. It’s the liberals. It’s whoever. It’s the blacks. It’s the whites. It’s the rich. It’s the poor.

You think you’re tough, really? We’re the most coddled generation possibly in the history of the planet. People think they’re so tough. They go over from France to go over to Syria and participate in jihad. They are literally crying themselves to sleep at night because they can no longer use their Wi-Fi on their phone. You’re going to behead people, and you can’t handle losing your iPhone?

We can’t handle a day without bread and milk on the shelves, our 4G being down for ten minutes. We all freak out. What happens when real strife comes, when we lose jobs, when we lose food, when we lose safety, and we can’t depend on our neighbor because we don’t know what they even believe in?

What’s coming? You’ve heard it all before. You’ve seen it all before. You want to know what’s coming? Go watch a video. Go watch some documentary on World War II. It’s coming again. Ready, set…God help us when the starter says go.

Without civic action, America faces collapse

JEFF KOWALSKY / Contributor | Getty Images

Every vote, jury duty, and act of engagement is civics in action, not theory. The republic survives only when citizens embrace responsibility.

I slept through high school civics class. I memorized the three branches of government, promptly forgot them, and never thought of that word again. Civics seemed abstract, disconnected from real life. And yet, it is critical to maintaining our republic.

Civics is not a class. It is a responsibility. A set of habits, disciplines, and values that make a country possible. Without it, no country survives.

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Civics happens every time you speak freely, worship openly, question your government, serve on a jury, or cast a ballot. It’s not a theory or just another entry in a textbook. It’s action — the acts we perform every day to be a positive force in society.

Many of us recoil at “civic responsibility.” “I pay my taxes. I follow the law. I do my civic duty.” That’s not civics. That’s a scam, in my opinion.

Taking up the torch

The founders knew a republic could never run on autopilot. And yet, that’s exactly what we do now. We assume it will work, then complain when it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the people steering the country are driving it straight into a mountain — and they know it.

Our founders gave us tools: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, elections. But they also warned us: It won’t work unless we are educated, engaged, and moral.

Are we educated, engaged, and moral? Most Americans cannot even define a republic, never mind “keep one,” as Benjamin Franklin urged us to do after the Constitutional Convention.

We fought and died for the republic. Gaining it was the easy part. Keeping it is hard. And keeping it is done through civics.

Start small and local

In our homes, civics means teaching our children the Constitution, our history, and that liberty is not license — it is the space to do what is right. In our communities, civics means volunteering, showing up, knowing your sheriff, attending school board meetings, and understanding the laws you live under. When necessary, it means challenging them.

How involved are you in your local community? Most people would admit: not really.

Civics is learned in practice. And it starts small. Be honest in your business dealings. Speak respectfully in disagreement. Vote in every election, not just the presidential ones. Model citizenship for your children. Liberty is passed down by teaching and example.

Samuel Corum / Stringer | Getty Images

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Start with yourself. Study the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and state laws. Study, act, serve, question, and teach. Only then can we hope to save the republic. The next election will not fix us. The nation will rise or fall based on how each of us lives civics every day.

Civics isn’t a class. It’s the way we protect freedom, empower our communities, and pass down liberty to the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

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Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

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Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck is once again calling on his loyal listeners and viewers to come together and channel the same unity and purpose that defined the historic 9-12 Project. That movement, born in the wake of national challenges, brought millions together to revive core values of faith, hope, and charity.

Glenn created the original 9-12 Project in early 2009 to bring Americans back to where they were in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those moments, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, conservative or liberal, Red States or Blue States, we were united as one, as America. The original 9-12 Project aimed to root America back in the founding principles of this country that united us during those darkest of days.

This new initiative draws directly from that legacy, focusing on supporting the family of Charlie Kirk in these dark days following his tragic murder.

The revival of the 9-12 Project aims to secure the long-term well-being of Charlie Kirk's wife and children. All donations will go straight to meeting their immediate and future needs. If the family deems the funds surplus to their requirements, Charlie's wife has the option to redirect them toward the vital work of Turning Point USA.

This campaign is more than just financial support—it's a profound gesture of appreciation for Kirk's tireless dedication to the cause of liberty. It embodies the unbreakable bond of our community, proving that when we stand united, we can make a real difference.
Glenn Beck invites you to join this effort. Show your solidarity by donating today and honoring Charlie Kirk and his family in this meaningful way.

You can learn more about the 9-12 Project and donate HERE

The critical difference: Rights from the Creator, not the state

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When politicians claim that rights flow from the state, they pave the way for tyranny.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently delivered a lecture that should alarm every American. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he argued that believing rights come from a Creator rather than government is the same belief held by Iran’s theocratic regime.

Kaine claimed that the principles underpinning Iran’s dictatorship — the same regime that persecutes Sunnis, Jews, Christians, and other minorities — are also the principles enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

In America, rights belong to the individual. In Iran, rights serve the state.

That claim exposes either a profound misunderstanding or a reckless indifference to America’s founding. Rights do not come from government. They never did. They come from the Creator, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims without qualification. Jefferson didn’t hedge. Rights are unalienable — built into every human being.

This foundation stands worlds apart from Iran. Its leaders invoke God but grant rights only through clerical interpretation. Freedom of speech, property, religion, and even life itself depend on obedience to the ruling clerics. Step outside their dictates, and those so-called rights vanish.

This is not a trivial difference. It is the essence of liberty versus tyranny. In America, rights belong to the individual. The government’s role is to secure them, not define them. In Iran, rights serve the state. They empower rulers, not the people.

From Muhammad to Marx

The same confusion applies to Marxist regimes. The Soviet Union’s constitutions promised citizens rights — work, health care, education, freedom of speech — but always with fine print. If you spoke out against the party, those rights evaporated. If you practiced religion openly, you were charged with treason. Property and voting were allowed as long as they were filtered and controlled by the state — and could be revoked at any moment. Rights were conditional, granted through obedience.

Kaine seems to be advocating a similar approach — whether consciously or not. By claiming that natural rights are somehow comparable to sharia law, he ignores the critical distinction between inherent rights and conditional privileges. He dismisses the very principle that made America a beacon of freedom.

Jefferson and the founders understood this clearly. “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” they wrote. No government, no cleric, no king can revoke them. They exist by virtue of humanity itself. The government exists to protect them, not ration them.

This is not a theological quibble. It is the entire basis of our government. Confuse the source of rights, and tyranny hides behind piety or ideology. The people are disempowered. Clerics, bureaucrats, or politicians become arbiters of what rights citizens may enjoy.

John Greim / Contributor | Getty Images

Gifts from God, not the state

Kaine’s statement reflects either a profound ignorance of this principle or an ideological bias that favors state power over individual liberty. Either way, Americans must recognize the danger. Understanding the origin of rights is not academic — it is the difference between freedom and submission, between the American experiment and theocratic or totalitarian rule.

Rights are not gifts from the state. They are gifts from God, secured by reason, protected by law, and defended by the people. Every American must understand this. Because when rights come from government instead of the Creator, freedom disappears.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.