Sad: US journalists need remedial civics lessons

It would be nice if political journalists read more. It would be nicer still if we didn’t constantly have to wonder whether they understand the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution — or even know the difference between the two.

Consider the case of MS Now host Katy Tur, who last week seemed not to recall the clear statement contained in our nation’s founding documents, that all men derive their rights from God.

How the host of a politics program could be unfamiliar with the concept that undergirds America’s entire experiment in self-governance is anyone’s guess.

For context, House Speaker Mike Johnson prayed recently at an event in Washington, saying, “Our rights do not derive from the government; they come from you, our Creator and Heavenly Father.” This is neither a new nor a controversial idea — it is simply a paraphrased version of the second sentence in the Declaration of Independence.

Yet Tur, host of a show centered on American politics, appeared unfamiliar with both the reference and the concept.

“What about this passage from Mike Johnson declaring that our rights do not derive from government: ‘They come from you, our creator and heavenly father?'” she asked her panel. “Is this him putting God over the Declaration of Independence?”

That is a bizarre way of asking a pretty dumb question. Even so, the answer to the question is still clearly yes: It is not only Johnson, but also the Declaration of Independence itself that puts God first. The Declaration, in its second sentence, calls it “self-evident” that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain........

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