Sarah Palin has hit a nerve with me. I’m trying to understanding it by writing about it.
In just over two weeks, I’ve gone from being a non-registered, non-voter with a 90% laissez faire attitude about what government does to being all-in for a person I want to see become president.
Being disaffected by politics didn’t mean I was without strong political beliefs. It meant I was without hope that anyone strong enough to articulate and push a strong Libertarian message would ever be motivated enough to run for office. My political foundation has been shaped by the speeches of Ronald Reagan and the writing of Libertarians like William F. Buckly and Camille Paglia. I believe God created us as vessels of free-will. We can do good. We can do bad or we can do nothing. I believe in freedom of choice across the board because that’s the system illustrated in the Garden of Eden.
Coming out of school, the Republicans held sway with me because their rhetoric was closer to Libertarianism. The Contract with America gave me great hope that I could see wasteful government spending come to an end. When that didn’t happen. I gave up and dropped out. If the political system’s intention was to screw itself, I wasn’t going to hang around and watch.
I had a little (unfounded) hope that Democrats would learn from Clinton’s Republican-Congress-Assisted fiscal restraint. As my fellow Christians seemed to grow more and more enamored with political power, I hoped for a new kind of Democrat party … one that was socially liberal and fiscally conservative. That hope was very short lived. It’s clear that the roots of socialism are too well established in the Democrat party.
I didn’t plan to vote this year, like I haven’t voted for the past several years, and then along came Palin.
It starts with the fact that she’s a woman and I’m a feminist. I don’t have much respect for men in general so men have to prove themselves in my life, but I’m likely to give a woman the benefit of the doubt. Margaret Thatcher said, “In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.” Oh Man! I can’t tell you how much I believe that, but for me, it goes beyond politics. I’d rather follow a woman than a man in almost any circumstance.
Beyond being a woman, Sarah Palin is a strong communicator who warmly and smoothly articulates her message in a way that attracts even people who disagree with her. It isn’t a quality that can easily be faked. She comes across as a politician who is genuine and I trust her. That never happens with me so I’ve been reading every blog post and news story about her. Memeorandum has overtaken Techmeme as my favorite Web site.
What I’ve learned about her, is that her enemies fear her because she is so damn effective. Lies about her record in Alaska are jumping up like popcorn, but they don’t stick because all they are just popcorn. She’s slashed government spending on things that don’t work or don’t matter in Alaska. That’s something I’ve always longed to see a politician do. She stood against and exposed corruption in the good-ol-boy networks and I don’t even want to get started on what I think about good-ol-boys. She learned from mistakes. Yes she originally supported the Bridge to Nowhere, but realized it was wrong and killed it. The Alaskan Democrat Party Web site credited her with killing the Bridge to Nowhere (and then took down the page after her nomination).
Camille Paglia is a lesbian, feminist, pro-abortion writer who supports Obama. She writes more eloquently than I ever could about why my friends on the social left don’t have a legitimate reason to fear Sarah (based on her record) and why feminists in particular shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss her.
I want to see someone go to Washington and kill programs that don’t work or don’t matter. Sarah Palin is the first person I’ve seen who just might do it.
This year I’m going to vote for John McCain, but I’m really voting for a future Sarah Palin presidency. I want to have a daughter one day and I prefer a woman in the White House when my girl (or boy) is growing up.
