Most Americans, at least those with a modicum of education and a passing knowledge of American history, were anything but surprised when [mc_name name=’Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001098′ ] said this in his speech announcing his candidacy for president of the United States:

And yet, for so many Americans, the promise of America seems more and more distant. What is the promise of America? The idea that — the revolutionary idea that this country was founded upon, which is that our rights don’t come from man. They come from God Almighty.

Those words were an echo of other, more famous, words penned in Philadelphia during the sweltering July of 1776:

We hold these Truths to be self-evident: that all Men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness..

If you knew this then you are over-qualified to cover politics for Yahoo News. Their political reporter, someone named “Meredith Shiner” (that would be @meredithshiner) tweeted this:

Though it is fun to point out the historical and political illiteracy of the buffoons that populate the media, it points to a profound danger that is looming over our Republic. If rights do not come from God, but from government, then God is not our master, government is. That is why the fight of religious liberty is so profoundly important to the future of this nation. Once the Constitution, and in particular the Bill of Rights, is widely viewed as defining the things people may do rather than things the government may NOT do, we are lost. We will cease to be citizens and become subjects.

The only thing bizarre in this episode is a political reporter being so grotesquely uniformed about our nation’s history that she was surprised to find out what our Founders announced over two centuries ago.