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Left to Right

So I said a while back that it was becoming steadily harder for me to remember that both sides of the political divide are in the debate with the best of intentions. Shockingly enough.

Very few people (apart from me) wake in the morning, have a cuppa and mutter drowsily as they open their laptop, “Let’s see how can I stick it to the poor, rich, Jews, Muslims and (especially) crippled midgets today?”

It used to be a lot easier to keep that fairly simple thought in mind, but as election wore on… you get sidetracked.

However, we are in luck because we have listened to the wise masters of the world. And by we, I mean me. And by the wise masters I mean Vizzini.

And Vizzini told us – “When the job goes bad, go back to the beginning.”

So here I am. Waiting for Vizzini.

And while I am waiting I decided to the review the fundamentals: The Short and Inaccurate History of Left and Right.

Now even as I type this I am fairly confident that even that simple line is nothing but lies. I have never written anything short in my life if I had half a chance to make it mind-numbingly huge.

And I am not going to talk about Left and Right in terms of global perspective – because let’s face it, only America matters.

The inaccurate part is pretty true, though….

Anyway, back to the Beginning.



A long time ago, on the sunny beaches of Hawaii a young man woke up one day and had a brilliant idea. “I could totally get paid for fucking around here, if I can sell a script about a deserted island, full of crazy bastards. And to make everyone feel like Smarty McSmartison from Smartyville, Smartabama – I will name every character after a bunch of book covers I saw in the library.

And, Lo, the phenomenon of LOST was born. And ye didst beheld a bunch of psychotic motherfuckers running around the jungle. And the craziest of them all were Locke and Rousseau. And JJ did look upon his works and did find them good.

And that’s the beginning.

But not really.

Basically a bunch of time ago, in 18th century, there was this intellectual Movement called (very modestly) the Enlightenment.

And it was about many things – but most of the folks messing around with it saw themselves as the proponents of Reason (no, honest, they insisted on capitalizing it. In fact they insisted on capitalizing every third word. Completely random. Like a chat bot advertising PenIs enlarGemeNt. Personally, I think they all had a bad case of ee cummings rage. And a capitalizing hemorrhoid.)

So Reason, and Equality, and Anti-monarchism.

That’s pretty broad and pretty inaccurate. I mean the Enlightenment was a lot like the Furby craze. Everyone wanted to get in on the act, and half of them were arguing with the other half and then the halves divided and quarters were arguing with each other, and the words they used got progressively bigger and for a while geeks were cool.

It was a w e s o m e.

Than the French Revolution rolled around and fucked it up for everyone.
Stupid French.

But I am getting ahead of myself (because of the French).

The modern American Left and Right were basically born out of two guys running around the jungle of Enlightenment throwing assorted cutlery at each other – John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Long story short – I never liked Rousseau, much. I mean all she does is skulk around the island with a rifle and occasionally mutters crazy business. I always strongly suspected that she’s given to wearing adult diapers too. And her name is fucking impossible to spell.

Meanwhile Locke killed a wild pig with a knife! A knife!
I rest my case.

So anyway – you had these two guys, and both of them were fighting the conservatives. Only back then we are talking about Conservatism Classic. Not the modern Coke Zero stuff, that tastes good AND less filling.

The OG conservatism was basically the aristocrats and the proponents of the absolutist monarchy. Or in other words. “There’s a bunch of people whose grand-daddy was awesomely friendly with Jesus. So Jesus made us kings/dukes. Which means we are inherently better than the rest of you. In conclusion – fuck off and give me money or I will slam you in the face with a shovel.”

(I might be simplifying just a tiny bit)

But there they were.

And somebody needs to be anti-conservative. And if you are anti-conservative, you are liberal. Liberal, liberty – everyone loves liberty. And jam.

Liberty and jam, how can you lose? (As long as you avoid the shovel, especially)

So there was John Locke, the Caped Crusader of Liberalism and his indomitable side-kick, the economic boy-wonder Adam Smith (who later went on to play Batman in a TV series after he changed his last name to West)

And their thing was pretty basic: A strong society is built around free men. These individuals are created equal under God. And the biggest impediment to them achieving greatness is the state and the various bullshit created by that state. So what we need is – hobble the state by separating its various components and powers, make it answerable to the free individuals whom it rules and, above all, establish The Rule of Law, a system which treats everyone as equal in the eyes of justice and provides equality of opportunity.

This enlightened system will protect the citizens' right to own and acquire stuff, and in pursuit of said stuff the citizens will accomplish fantastical things that will benefit the society as a whole.

The competition is fostered, the best work hard and apply themselves and do well and everyone gets to have jam. And the whole shovel-beating avenue of thought can be avoided. Faaaaaantastic.

But the system is voluntary and if the government gets retarded again, or stops protecting people’s right to stuff, the citizens get to opt out of the contract and hit the government with things.

That’s basically the classic liberalism, also known as Locke’s Theory of Things and Stuff. If any of that sounds at all familiar, blame Jefferson – the guy pretty much cribbed the entire thing.

On the other side of the English Channel, unfortunately, there was France.
The end.

I keed, I keed… (But seriously – fuck France)

And in France there lived Jean-Jacque Rousseau. And he said – “Equality is awesome. But this free individual stuff… Seriously, John – are you retarded? And I am only asking because I care.”

Rousseau’s (by the way, in the course of this post I haven’t managed to spell his name right once. Spell check is ridiculously fantastic) big thing was community. People working together. And JJ (Not Abrams, this other one) also disagreed with Locke on one basic, fundamental idea.

Locke thought that men were born morally/intellectually neutral, the blank slate (that idea was developed by Locke in the course of his career TAing survey history courses to freshman in a major state University). And in the course of their life, people become themselves though accumulation of experience. Bad experience turns you into Hitler, and good experience turns you into Hitler.

Because everyone ends up on the intertubes, and everyone on the intrawebs is Hitler.
True fact.

Jean-Jacques thought that men are born good. I am not going to discuss what he thought about women – this is a family program. But men were born excellent. Unfortunately in course of their life they are corrupted by the state, which learns them all sorts of bad ideas and words. Like stuff. And the desire for more stuff.

(Except in Britain – that’s things country over there. Things and sheep. Things, sheep and Scotland. Just do the math, people…)

If left to themselves in that heinous process, these ever-so-free individuals would treat each other like plastered shit, sell their sisters, rape their pets, slam you in the face with a shovel and definitely steal your jam. Because the very idea of private property establishes an earthly analogue of original sin. It breed selfishness, and egotism and envy.

The answer was of course obvious. The current society is a failed product and needs to be replaced by a better one. A natural community of men (and other prettier men with breasts and no facial hair). This will be a new perfect society that will help us all to retain out natural goodness (and jam) by eliminating the unnatural competition through doing away of private property (like shovels).

No individualism, no selfishness, everything shared equally, and belonging to everyone. Common good above private concerns. “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, so unless you brought enough gum for the entire class it’s a booting for you, baby.”

So in a very small nutshell: Rousseau’s Theory of No Stuff, No Problems.

So we have this whole business rattling around for a while. Theorizing. And then, people decide to put it in practice. As you do.

And that means Revolutions. Everybody loves a good revolution. Benny Franklin and TJ danced, danced their way into your basic plagiarism and, after kicking his countrymen out, decided to build a country on Locke’s blueprint.

French couldn’t really let that pass by, so they started their own party. But the French Revolution was much more fixated on Rousseau (it was embarrassing really. A lot like Harry Potter fandom, only with less goat.se and more chopping of the heads… Actually, strike that. It was exactly like Harry Potter fandom).

Being French these guys got a little too excited and burned down most of Europe while experimenting.

As you do.

Meanwhile back in Britain, a guy named Edmund Burke was completely aghast, because his parents named him Edmund Burke.

I mean seriously – that’s just mean.

He was also slightly Irish, so naturally he was incensed by that whole business in France. (The fact that goats were suddenly so popular, proved a real disaster to Ireland’s lucrative sheep industry.)

So anyway, Eddie sits in his room, petting his sheep (that’s a euphemism) and looking at this whole French thingamadoo. And it occurs to him - “…those bastards are out of their goddamn mind! Even for the French…”

And he basically says – “No, seriously. We are way past messing around. Dude, seriously – they are chopping people’s heads off over there. With a machine that’s designed specifically to chop people’s heads off! No joke. Why do you think they are doing that?”

So he decided to ask.

And Robespierre told him that the old society was corrupt and failed and new one had to be built.

“And the head chopping comes into this because…”

“Old society is made of people that needed some killing.” Rob told him. “To much competition, too much mysticism, too much individualism, too much retardation. We have a blueprint for a perfect new system and it will help us create a perfect new citizen.”

“But Locke said that individualism is good. And competition is good…”

“Well that’s nice, but your good, competitive individuals are busy burning their neighbors because they think their invisible friend told them to. So y’know what? Fuck your individualism. Most of your good people are dirty, superstitious savages that have been bamboozled by conmen into believing absolute bullshit. We will lead them out of the darkness.”

“But what if you are wrong? All this ‘darkness’ has been evolved by thousands of generations of trial and error. And it works – that’s why it’s around. It’s been tested. You just totally made your new system up and you used fucking Windows, for Chrissakes! Shouldn’t you beta it first before installing?”

“There’s no time!”

“Why not?”

“Because of China, that’s why!”

Burke wanted to clarify that point, but then Robespierre had to go and chop Danton’s head off, so we’ll never know. But Burke thought about it for a while and decided that really – fuck the French. They were clearly full of it.

Burke’s whole idea was that Conservatism of old was done. No going back. So he revamped it and jazzed it up. He figured that liberals had a lot of good points, the problem with them was – they were always in a hurry. He blamed the crack. As do we all, really.

So, he said no to the dope fiends. And explained that any change was by necessity an act of violence. And thus inherently destabilizing to society. And also breaking things, while fun, has sort of a permanent effect. So before we do it we should be very sure that
1 – it needs doing
2 - it will do what we want it to
3 – the cost is worth it

And since the Lockeans were uneasy about the whole head-chopping thing, they decided that Burke was making a lot of sense.

And he and Locke got married in Vermont and lived happily ever after.

But Rousseauans thought about it and said – “Wait a second. I’ve seen this movie before. It was called congressional committee. So, I get it. We study and consider any proposed change. Than we cost-analyze it. Than we talk about all the possible consequences. Than after a 100 years of thinking it through we vote and you might agree?

Well. Fuck that noise. We want it now.”

“But why?”

“Because of China! That’s why!”

So around and round it went. Lost of shovels got used up.

Meanwhile the Industrial Revolution came around and a guy named Byron really, really wanted to be a Goth. But his Mom didn’t let him, because Doc Martens were really expensive in the 19th century.

So instead he became a Romantic. So he wrote bad poetry, dressed in black, watched LOTR, Terminator and Matrix, and complained a lot about nobody understanding him and the oppression of the System, and the beauty of Natural order of things.

For some reason that got him a lot of girls. Romanticism caught on pretty quickly after that.

And theoretically, they were all about turning back the clock, so they could play with swords, and dance in the forest – but they were much too hip to be conservatives. So they said that they were liberals too.

But Lockean crowd thought they were a bunch of twinks and didn’t let them sit at their table. They were too busy figuring out how to destroy the environment and build more coal factories. Cleaning up sparrows while composing the poems about the beauty of dawn over the sea of your tormented soul was nice – but unless farm machinery was built there was going to be a wee bit of starvation and unemployment. And a decided lack of jam.

So Byron went to talk to Rousseaun crew. And they liked him, because cleaning up drinking water and possibly passing some laws preventing the workers from being flogged to death sounded vaguely appealing.

At this point the European politics get really odd, because a guy named Karl Marx gets into the act and a bunch of JJ’s people decide that socialist is way better sounding that liberal. And soon everyone is changing their names and creating sock-puppets. Basically from 1848 to about 1945 Europe is one big flame war.

So we’ll go to America and skip to 1930s. FDR is rolling around in a totally pimped out wheelchair and making polio his bitch, and is really digging this whole idea of everybody banding together for the common good, society and the state becoming one, government helping out the little people and getting some control over the free market. Because Depression didn’t work out so well and they didn’t want to do it again.

The guy named Frederich Hayek wasn’t too impressed with the whole thing. “So you’ll feed them, pay them, give them houses. You’ll ensure that they have jobs, and you will educate their children and you will heal them. How is this a free society if they all depend on you?”

“Yeah, Fred, that’s nice. Now why don’t you go out and watch your kid die from hunger, than we’ll talk about the finer points of liberty.”

“Dude, I just barely outran the fucking Nazis. Trust me, I know what I am talking about. And freedom is freedom. Including freedom to fail. Can’t legislate perfection, Frankie. You ain’t God.”

“Don’t call me dude. You are a fucking professor, for God’s sake. I am a liberal.”

“No, you are not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“What does that make me then?”

“A conservative, I guess…”

“Wait, what?

“That’s right, bitch. Now move out of the way, I’ve got Nazis to fight. They just bombed Pearl Harbor.”

And that’s basically when liberals became liberals and conservatives became conservatives.

Of course there is also this entire thing when they decided to divide the religion. But it’s way too complicated for me. Just let me blow your mind with this – the Jesuits are part of the religious Left.

That’s right. That just happened!
Is your mind blown? Well, I warned you.

Anyway, when the dust settled the two camps sat down and tried to figure out where they stood exactly.

And the new conservatives were basically starting from the old familiar mantra: All that people need is a chance. And given equal opportunity and a free society they can achieve miraculous things.

Personal liberty, right to private property and the rule of law to protect both of those things is really the only thing that’s needed.

People are imperfect and can never correct that. And since the system of government are created for and by people they will too always be imperfect. All we can do is to remember that simple fact, and built in mechanisms of self-correction. We can never be perfect, but we can refine the institutions that will emphasize the better angels of our nature and de-emphasise the desire to hit our neighbors with shovels.

And in fact many of those institutions we already know, because we’ve been tinkering with them for ages. Religion, family, tradition.

But the new liberals were a bit more ambitious.

People are not imperfect. People are perfectly fucked up, they said. But that can change and we will change it. We have the potential to be awesome. To be Godlike in fact. We have science, we have art, and we have the drive.

So we can design a system that will produce an entirely new People. Better, smarter, kinder. But we won’t do it, by standing back and tinkering at the margins. We have to get in and get our hands dirty. And remember that most people are pretty dumb, ignorant, trapped by superstitious and outdated traditions.

So we have to teach them and if necessary force them to change. But mostly we have to help them. Not stand back and watch them fail time after time, until they get it right.

That’s how you create slaves, say the conservatives, not perfect people.

Give them barest minimum of freedom to think for themselves, freedom to fail, freedom to be be stupid OR smart and these guys will rise to the occasion and pull themselves by the bootstraps from the deepest of holes.

Barest of freedom is right, said liberals. What kind of equal opportunity is it when one guy inherited a bajillion dollars and can hire every Princeton Professor to write his essay. And this guy had a slave for grandfather, and risks getting shot every time he goes to school? Freedom to fail, is just another way of saying 'fuck you' to that guy.

Well, he should buy his own gun and study twice as hard, conservatives say. Freedom isn’t easy.

“It’s easy for the other guy though, innit?”

“So what’s your answer? You ‘re going to make everyone equal? How? By controlling everything? No, thanks. Life ain’t fair, but the system is fundamentally good. Everyone has a chance to get at the top.”

“The system is fucked up and fundamentally unfair. We should have a new one, a perfect one!”

“Why? This one works pretty well. Better than anything anyone has every tried before.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s a good system! Let’s try something else!”

“Why?”

“Because of China, that’s why!”

The Lyin' King

Quote of the Month

This comment from LawDog's 9/11 post deserves to be spread hither and yon:

Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity.

It isn't that the MSM gets together and CONSPIRES to avoid images of 9/11/2001, or the bestial behavior of radical muslims around the world. It's that they cannot grasp it. It doesn't fit anywhere in their world; a world where Socialism works and they - the anointed - are divinely chosen by Providence to guide those who are less enlightened (that's us).

They reacted the same way to the news from the killing fields. To the revelation that Stalin was a monster whose body count dwarfed Hitler's. They cannot deal with the information that so contradicts their world-view, so they blank it out of their minds and unconsciously try to blank it out of the world.

They lack the intelligence to handle world as complicated as the real one - hence the way they fall for Marxism, a belief totally unsuited to the complex modern world - and they lack the moral strength to face the consequences of their past behavior. The mass graves. The misery. Acknowledging these would break them, which is why the become so hysterical when confronted.

They are pathetic intellectual dwarfs and moral lightweights. The proper response to them is not anger but impatient contempt. Certainly they must not be allowed to run the country.

For your own good...

Another very good piece, also from Rational Passion. An excerpt:

For (Bill) Maher and (Sam) Harris, the Democrats fight for the little guy, peace, justice, and all good things. And if you don't vote for them, you're an idiot. And a narcissistic idiot for not realizing how stupid you are! You are to defer to the wisdom of your betters--people like Maher, Harris, Obama, and other left-liberals--and shut up! Why? Because you're stupid, fool!

If this is how you view the little guy--as a bitter, narcissistic, idiot who clings to
religion, guns, and xenophobia to give him comfort and security in a world without the blessings of "progressive" Democrats in charge--how can you be said to be his representative? Note that I have nothing against elitism. I have a problem with a certain kind of elitism. I have a problem with an elitist who claims to support the little guy out of one side of his mouth while sneering at his stupid Wal-Mart-shopping-gun-toting-Bible-believing ways out of the other.

Being a left-liberal elitist is not a function of one's economic class or educational attainment per se. Being a left-liberal elitist means believing that helping the little guy is the purpose of politics and simultaneously believing that the little guy would abandon the things that he says he values if only he had a few more dollars in his pocket and a better job, thanks to left-liberal government programs. Some people, shockingly, don't like being told that their values--right, wrong, or in-between--are symptoms of economic deprivation! Might they be? Sure. But people don't like being told that, and if you're going to insult them, don't expect them to vote for you.

Read the whole thing. Trust me, although I disagreee with his
idea of abstaining from the election, I certainly think he's got a top notch
analysis.

And here's a little bit more, from that same piece:

No, it won't be racism that does Barack Obama in, if he does in
fact lose. For every racist white who won't vote for Obama because he's a black
man, there's probably a guilty white liberal desperate to vote for a black
person to prove how non-racist he is. I think the racial issue is a wash--it may
help Obama, and it
may hurt him, but on balance, it won't be the deciding issue. I think the deeper
reason for Obama's
probable defeat is something he said in his convention speech. Obama told us why John
McCain won't embrace the brilliant Obama plan of hope and change. Obama said "It's not
because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it."
That, really, is all left-liberals have. To those of us who don't "get it," they
can offer no reason to support their candidate or their worldview. The bulk of
the press, Hollywood, academia, and our cultural institutions generally--they
"get it." They "get it" so well that the need to argue for and explain their
views is a skill they've lost. And there are a whole bunch of us who don't "get
it" and resent being told that we don't "get it" by people who use sneers and
smears to make their case instead of arguments.

Pwned.

Class Act

Via the Associated Press we learn, once again, that Sen. Obama is a member in good standing of the "Guns for me, none for thee" crowd.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Who knew Secret Service agents were so handy for parents of elementary school kids?

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, taking questions from an Indiana crowd Saturday, called on a 5th grade teacher. Noting that his 10-year-old daughter, Malia, is starting the 5th grade, he asked: "Any tips? What should I be waiting around for?"

Someone called out, "boys."

"What!" Obama exclaimed in mock horror, as the audience laughed. "Hold on a sec. Maybe that home-schooling is all right. One reason I have to win here is so that I've got Secret Service around my girls at all times. They carry guns."

Malia might not be getting any play dates soon.

Obvioussly, he's making an 'overprotective father' joke with this statement, but all it does is remind me of the numerous times he has said that he'd either ban all guns, or just all handguns, or just ban them in urban centers. But as long as Malia and Sasha have armed bodyguards, who cares what happens to my daughter.

(PS: Love the little dig he worked in there bashing homeschooling. Stay classy, Sen. Obama.)

Sarah Strikes Back

With thanks to the original "Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in 1888" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, and this article by Stephen Spruiell at National Review Online.

Sarah Strikes Back: A Ballad of the Republician Party Sung in 2008
by Ish (2008)

The outlook wasn't brilliant for candidate John McCain:
The polls down two to four points, with but two months more campaign.
Gas was sky high, the economy seemed cursed, and a hurricane on TV,
What could be worse? A sadness fell upon the delegates to the RNC.

A straggling few arrived in St. Paul in despair. The rest
Clung their Bibles and their assault rifles to their breast;
They thought, if only McCain would do something - go on the attack -
We'd spend good money, now, if the Gipper could come back.

But Rudy's speech preceded McCain's, as did also Joe Liberman's,
And the former was a RINO and the latter had few fans;
So upon the conservative base, a grim malaise did fall,
For there seemed but little chance that McCain could win at all.

But Rudy brought the fire, to the wonderment of all,
And Joe, the much despised, tore the roof off of the hall;
And when the dust had lifted, and the party realized what they'd heard
It was okay to be conservative! The Democrats were absurd!

Then from 20,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the foundation, it rattled the Xcel;
It escaped the Twin Cities, rolled across the pairie sage,
For Sarah, mighty Sarah, was advancing to the stage.

There was ease in Sarah's manner as she steppedinto her place
There was pride in Sarah's bearing and a smile on Sarah's face.
And as she stood smiling, the cheers lasted for an age,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Sarah on the stage.

The Media'seyes were on her, and they commented on her skirt;
Five thousand liberal bloggers bemoaned her choice of shirt.
Yet while the DailyKos kids oozed venom from their fingertips,
Defiance gleamed in Sarah's eye, but only kind words crossed her lips.

Now again the liberal smears came roaring across the Web,
And Sarah stood queitly, while the applause began to ebb.
"Scandal!" cried the blogosphere, "Teh Downs Baby ain't her kid!!!1!"
"That ain't my style," said Sarah. "Strike one," the MSM empire said.

From the right-wing web, and on talk radio, there went up a muffled call,
But the mainstream media picked up the story, and ran with the slimy ball,
"Kill him! Kill the media empire!" shouted someone on in stands;
And it's likely they'd a-killed `em had not Sarah stayed their hands.

With a smile of Christian charity, Sarah's great wisdom shown;
She stilled the rising tumult; she bade the convention go on;
She introduced us to her family, and once more the rumors flew;
But Sarah still ignored them, and the empire said, "Strike two."

"Preggers!!!1!" cried the maddened Kos-ites, "Bristol iz unwed!!!1!";
But one kind word from Sarah and the rumor was squashed dead.
Then they saw her face grow stern and cold, the saw Sarah set her jaw,
And they knew that her speech would fill them all with awe.

The humor is gone from the lib blogosphere, their keyboards clenched in hate;
Ready with cruel violence to heap scorn on the Governor of the Klondike State.
And now the convention falls silent, on the edge of their seats,
When the air is shattered by the force of Sarah's speech!

Oh, somewhere in the Blue States the Libs still whine and mope;
They still want "Change" somewhere, and somewhere they still want "Hope,"
And somewhere they still love Barrack, somewhere they say he'll come back.
But there is no joy in Mediaville - mighty Sarah has struck back.

Facts? Who needs `em!

The Washington Post put out with a story that Gov. Sarah Palin “slashed” funding for teen moms after she took office.

But in one of those all too common cases where the blogosphere does the medias job... only, y'know, better, 24ahead.com dug up an obscure source of information known as "public records" and found this gem:

Covenant House’s IRS Form 990 (link) shows the funds that Paul Kane describes as “slashed” was over a threefold increase from the government funds they received from all sources in 2006
(FY2006 ending 12/31/06).

You're doing a heckuva job, Washington Post.

Well, crap...

Well, screw you Home Depot.

Long and boring story made short and boring.  My wife and I needed to replace our toilet, the old one had a cracked tank and had been slowly leaking for about a month... So we drop $300 at Home Depot and buy a nice new one. The instructions quite clearly call for 12" of distance between the bolts in the floor and the wall.  We've got 12.3", so its going to be a tight fit, but workable.

We set the thing up, and do a rough fit before we tighten all the screws... waaay less than .3", in fact its more like 0" of clearance. The tank is touching the wall... Well, crap, we say to ourselves but decide to proceed anyway. Leaks from every seal and the toilet is totally off level.  No way in hell that we can make this $300 toilet work.

So, I now have two toilets in my bathroom and I can't used either of them. Plus, a nice open pipe that leads straight to the sewer. ARRRGH!

I <3 Sarah Palin

Gov. Sarah Palin responds to a question in her downtown Anchorage office next to a grizzly her father shot in Denali Highway country. 

(Photo by Stephen Nowers / Anchorage Daily News)

Sarah Palin is the incumbent Governor of Alaska and former Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. A Journalist, she is the first Governor of Alaska born after Alaska was granted statehood. She took office at the age of 42, making her the youngest Governor in Alaska's short history, as well as the first woman Governor.

Gov. Palin's oldest child, and eldest son, Track, joined the Army on September 11, 2007, at the age of 18, and is schedule to deploy to Iraq later this year. Her youngest son, born just this year, is Trig Palin, who prenatal genetic testing had shown has Down syndrome. Her decision to have the baby was applauded by the pro-life community, and frankly should be applauded by anyone with a pulse.... Palin also has three daughters, Bristol, Piper, and Willow, who live at home in Wasilla. Husband Todd is a commercial fisherman. She is lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. Woot. 

“I am a lifetime member of the NRA, I support our Constitutional right to bear arms and am a proponent of gun safety programs for Alaska's youth […]” - Sarah Palin

Gov. Palin's political career began with two terms on the Wasilla City Council, then was elected Mayor for two terms. She was elected President of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. From Wiki:

In 2002, Palin made a failed bid to become the state's lieutenant governor, coming in second place behind Loren Leman in a four-way race, some say due to her inability to raise campaign contributions equal to that of her opponents. After Frank Murkowski became governor, resigning from his long-time U.S. Senate seat, Palin was considered by some to be a candidate for that job; however Murkowski appointed his daughter, then State Representative Lisa Murkowski.

Governor Murkowski did appoint Palin to serve as a commissioner on the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission which she served on during 2003–2004, but later resigned, in protest over what she perceived to be the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders. This included the state party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, a fellow commissioner, who was accused of doing work for the party on public time and providing a sensitive email to a lobbyist. She filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former state Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who was eventually found not guilty.

Hmmm, spunky and ethical! No wonder the mainstream media ignores her, while its busy deifying Oprah, Hillary, and Britney. A Republican takes on the RINO-infested Republican Party, and it ain't the media's former favorite Maverick, John McCain, but a woman in Alaska. But the Republican Party had a small comeuppance coming. 

In 2006 Palin took on the sitting Republican Governor Frank "Bridge To Nowhere" Murkowski in the Republican Primaries. She beat the party and Murkowski. Then she went on to the general election and whipped the former Governor, Tony Knowles, by 8 percentage points in a six-candidate race. Her plurality was 48%+. How many times have we sat back and groaned as the Party went out of its way to shove good candidates aside to protect lousy, incumbent Republicans in their re-election bids? Well, Palin fought them, beat them, and then beat the Democrat. And it turns out she has been so good as Governor that, in July 2007, Palin was heralded in the national media as being the most popular governor in the country, with an approval rating often in the 90+ range. An August 2007 poll had her approval rating at 84%, with 5% disapproving. Wonder who disapproved? Democrats, no doubt, wishing for a bigger government and more handouts.

Our next Commander in Chief? 

Wanna talk about a Maverick? Sarah Palin supports moving the Legislative sessions out of Juneau - the state Capital - on occasion. She also pushes sending the state's wealth back down to the municipalities. Which, of course, is where that wealth came from in the first place. This is Municipal Revenue Sharing, something the National Football League uses a form of to keep smaller teams in smaller cities afloat. And after all, the locals know far better what is needed in their town than some elected twit in the Capital. I know that's political Heresy to the Left, but it's a fact nevertheless. Palin seems to understand that a government's wealth comes only from taking it from those who actually worked for it. Governments do not make money, nor do they create wealth. Ever. They consume it, ravenously, if allowed. 

Maverick? When Palin was elected Governor, she decided Juneau had seen enough inaugurations. She moved the ceremonies to Fairbanks. Imagine the President of the United States being inaugurated in Pittsburgh, PA rather than in Washington, D.C. Where would all those Big Wigs and government muckety-mucks stay? And just who would they impress? I like Palin's idea. Maybe we ought to try it one of these days for the President's inauguration, eh?

Sarah Palin is not immune to the disease of government meddling in things economic. And she did not come out looking good. Again, from Wiki:

Gov. Palin received widespread criticism for her handling of Matanuska Maid Dairy, a state owned dairy. When the State Dairy Board recommend the closing of the unprofitable state owned business, Palin fired the board and appointed long-time MATSU Borough associates to run the board, including influential real estate businesswoman Kristan Cole. The new board quickly approved raising the price of milk offered by the dairy in a vain attempt to control hemorrhaging fiscal losses and despite the fact that milk from the state of Washington was already offered in Alaska for much less the Mat Maid milk. In the end the dairy was forced to close and the state tried to sell the assets to pay for its huge debts, but because the initial minimum asking price was set too high no bids were received.

I hope she understands now that government is not the answer to every problem. She does seem to.

“As Mayor and CEO of the booming city of Wasilla, my team invited investment and encouraged business growth by eliminating small business inventory taxes, eliminated personal property taxes, reduced real property tax mill levies every year I was in office, reduced fees, and built the infrastructure our businesses needed to grow and prosper.” - Sarah Palin

Heck, she's even gay freindly! Palin and her administration been receptive to GLBT concerns about discrimination. Palin signed same-sex benefits into law, and when they got challenged by the legislatue, Palin used her first veto on the legislation that would have barred the state from granting benefits to gay state employees and their partners. In effect, she personally granted State benefits to same-sex couples.  

Even if McCain/Palin loses in November, her presence on the ticket might just mean the final extinction of RINOs.