I just love reading intelligent, and well written articles; I’m always envious of folks who can say it so much better than myself.
Please read this article, “The Sarah Palin Thing” by Joseph C. Phillips . It is a great analysis of what I call the ‘mystique’ surrounding Sarah Palin.
I am not her greatest fan; in fact, I was disappointed when John McCain chose her as his running mate; I thought it showed a lapse in judgment. But, I just took a wait and see attitude, and I finally reconciled my doubts by reminding myself that, while she probably wasn’t presidential material, she was definitely more able than candidate Obama
So, I could live with Vice President, and, even President Palin, should the need arise.
But, once the election was over, I figure she would disappear into the ether, like Dan Quayle, and so many other politicians have done in my life, and we would seldom hear from her.
But, I was wrong. The liberals still have an irrational hatred of her, and many conservative have an equally irrational love of her., and that is enough to pique my interest.
Love.. I get that; I can easily see why she is adored. She is charming, and she has good looks, and brains, and drive, and courage; what’s not to like ?
I don’t get the hate. I don’t get any hate. It’s like the liberals who hate her so much, are the self-same liberals who should be applauding her, and using her as an example of the success of women’s liberation. She is the epitome of the women’s lib movement, and, yet, liberal women hate her.
LOL…. it is irrational.
I have a longtime female friend who tore me a new “one”, (and I do mean “tore”), over a simple little humorous email I passed-along to her, that actually made fun of Palin, while at the same time, praising her.
It was for fun; it was for a laugh; I was not even a supporter of Palin, yet my friend came unglued. In fact, I saw a side of her that was new to me, and it just about ended a ten year friendship.
And the irony is that this woman was successful, and had re-made herself, and her career, and was a beneficiary of the women’s lib movement, which she wouldn’t deny, yet, she just could not see her own connection to Palin, and she could not have even a snigle rational thought that included Palin. She even attacked her for giving birth to a child with Downs Syndrome.
So, I get that liberals do hate her. I kinda think that is good, because it is useful when the opposition resorts to emotional, hate-filled arguments; it makes them look foolish.
So, some folks love her, and some folks hate her, and there doesn’t seem to be an in-between.
Me ? I am still waiting. I am kinda hoping that I will be struck by some sorta of intelligent “light” that will give some me insight into what I am missing; what do her supporters see, that I don’t see ?
Again, I understand the charm, and the grass-roots appeal, but, I guess I am looking for more than that; I think I am looking for a conservative substance that meshes more with my possibly outdated expectations.
I’m not a kid; I like to say that I was born into an era where I had one foot in post World War II morals, and values, and the other in emerging 1960′s attitudes and values. I never abandoned my post-war footing, and I never embraced the “new world”; I was raised in my own personal generation gap.
This article made me realize that maybe the Palin supporters are on to something, and, and rather than dismiss her mystique as youthful ignorance, maybe I should try harder to embrace their thoughts.
If I have learned anything by this blog, and, Twitter, and my other Social Networking chums, is that there are tons of young folks who are getting involved, and they are very bright, and savvy, than I ever was at their (younger) ages.
And it would serve me well to listen to them; they are the future.
As the article so ably sums-up:
“It is not Palin’s grit, her good looks or her “you betcha” small town persona that drives the new left to distraction. Rather it is her elementary ability to recognize the danger in putting too much trust in the smart guys– especially when their solutions require that we place our liberties at their disposal. “Palinism” is not a rejection of intellect; it is however, to say in no uncertain terms that some of us regular folk might just know a bit more about how to run our lives and this country than a room filled with Ivy educated czars.”
I admit it; probably my main doubt about Sarah Palin is that I was looking for a more, or deeper, intellectual persona. The in-your-face rabble-rouser personality is fine, but I want to know that, underneath it all, she is the smartest person in the room.
This article says, “hey”….”intelligence is important, of course, but not all intelligence comes from books”. Values count, courage counts, and beliefs count.
Jimmy Carter was known to have had superior intelligence, yet, his presidency was a disaster, and America was made to be a fool over the Iran hostage crisis.
It was said of Reagan that he wasn’t necessarily the brightest bulb in the room, but that he had the native intelligence, and smarts, to surround himself with smart guys. (However, it is now clear that he was the smartest guy in the room).
I didn’t know much about Reagan when he ran for President. I knew he was an b-movie actor, and I was fan. I was too young to vote for him as governor, in 1967, and I was overseas and had other things on my mind when he was re-elected in 1971.
I just saw him as a movie actor who was getting elected because of name recognition.
When he ran against Carter, there was no doubt that I would vote for him; Jimmy Carter made sure of that. But, I was going to have to hold my nose; I just did not want to vote for some old almost unknown actor.
And then, I started paying attention to what he was saying, and he finally convinced me that he was more than just a “pretty face” with name recognition.
Reagan understood what America was about. He knew that America, even though it was over 200 years old, was still an experiment as to whether men and women could govern themselves. And he believed in it, and he knew it’s true value, and it’s exceptionalism
So, I voted for him, and I didn’t have to hold my nose.
Sarah Palin may be Reaganesque, i.e., the real Reagan, and not the mythical Reagan that I read so much about, was just an ordinary guy, bright, but not a genius, with solid values and beliefs that he embraced, and wasn’t afraid to defend. He the courage of his convictions, and if Sarah Palin sticks to her convctions, she just might change history.
So, Sarah Palin, I’m listening…. show me your stuff…
And that is just my opinion.
Spencer Holly
0087
http://www.angrycalifornian.com
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