When Gov. George Allen joined the Kerry and Mike Show for an on-air interview last Thursday we discussed the ignorance of the founding principles of our republic that we see almost everywhere.

It’s a contagion and it’s alarming.

Still, I didn’t expect to find a glaring example one day later. And certainly not in Congress.

But get a load of Rep. Linda Sanchez of California on the floor of the House Friday:

“No right GIVEN to the people of the United States is absolute, and that includes the right of free speech.”

Holy cow.

 And this from someone who once raised her right hand and swore the following:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

How can someone who doesn’t understand the Constitution protect and defend it?

For anyone else who - like Sanchez - slept through civics class, it’s simple: Our country was founded on the principle that our rights are natural rights, unalienable and given to us by our Creator. The Constitution was written not to give us those natural rights, but to restrain the government from infringing on them.

Remember, any government that gives its citizens rights can also take them away.

Ignorance of that simple fact may be the reason so many sheep in this country nodded in agreement as the government stripped away one civil right after another during the pandemic. They shrugged when government closed churches and synagogues and when factotums in Richmond told them how many visitors they could have in their own homes.

In fact, a belief that government has any “rights” (it doesn’t, it has powers, the people have rights) is a scary thought.

But it’s not only stupid members of Congress who don't understand what makes our Republic great. Even The New York Times has lost its way.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg, a veteran Times reporter, covered the testimony of Robert Kennedy Jr. before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government last week.

This is what she wrote:

Despite the theater, the hearing raised thorny questions about free speech in a democratic society: Is misinformation protected by the First Amendment? When is it appropriate for the federal government to seek to tamp down the spread of falsehoods?

I can answer those “thorny” questions, Sheryl: Yes, misinformation IS covered by the First Amendment. And it is NEVER appropriate for the federal government to “tamp down” - that is, censor - what it considers falsehood.

Geezus. This isn’t hard.

It’s amazing to watch the venerable New York Times getting squishy on free speech. If any institution ought to be rock solid on the First Amendment it should be the Old Gray Lady.

Now we learn members of Congress are also operating under the misconception that constitutional rights were doled out to us by government?

I don’t want to be an alarmist, but we’re on the verge of losing our Republic.