Advice for Sarah Palin

My normally rational wife commented that maybe we should see if we qualify for the state child insurance program. I have seen normally conservative bloggers write about pricing new cars to take advantage of the government rebates. I've even had visions of sugarplums when I hear of proposals about the government paying off student loans. It's very easy to fall prey to these enticements.

The socialists dangle bits of candy in front of our collective noses and we are blinded to the fact that every piece we take chips away at liberty. None of it is free, it all comes with strings attached. What is needed now is two things. First, every freedom loving American needs to just say no to whatever Obama offers.

Second there needs to be a political realignment within the next few years. What we have now are the Social Democrats on the right and the Socialists on the the left. To borrow from H.L. Menken:

Whatever the label on the parties, or the war cries issuing from the demagogues who lead them the practical choice is between the plutocracy on the one side and a rabble of preposterous impossibalists on the other... It is a pity that this is so...

What it (democracy) needs beyond everything is a party of liberty.

Fortunately there are some outliers, such as Sarah Palin who just might pull off such a realignment. She is outside the political mainstream and has the rhetoric and popularity to get such a message out. One questions however is if she has the intellectual weight to make the case without sounding like an angry populist flatlander. The press, as she has painfully learned, has the ability to make outliers appear as cranks if they are not careful.

What she shows so far all seems to come more from the gut. Guts have thier place of course. Like quiting your job, going fishing for the week end, and then to everyones amazement jumping back into the scrum. The base loves her guts but she needs more. She has to demonstrate that she has put some thought into what she believes. It is one thing to call Obama a socialist it is another to explain how and why that is a bad thing.

With that in mind I would suggest to the Governor that she immerse herself in progressive history, read the arguments against the socialist state from people like Fredrick Hayek, and listen to the speeches of Ronald Reagan. Then over the next 6 years (this has to be a long term project) educate the mushy middle of the American polity and position yourself as the candidate for liberty.