Governor Palin: A Year as a Titleless American

It's July 3rd, 2010. Governor Palin is in Wasilla with her family making plans for the Independence Day holiday. She has just been informed that a 40th frivolous ethics complaint has been filed against her for talking with reporters at an Anchorage 5K race about her best selling book that was released just in the Spring. Things are still moving forward with the transcontinental gas pipeline, and after a fierce battle with the obstructionist Alaskan legislature, a prudent FY2011 budget has been passed.

On the national political front, President Obama and VP Biden are hitting up the links trying to decide if the administration should meet with the head of BP more than 2 months following a massive oil spill. The administration had passed its first major piece of "reform" legislation --a government take over of health care--during the Fall of 2009 in spite of the protest of a sincere,bold, but somewhat faceless group of Tea Party Patriots. President Obama is on near cruise control with his agenda, with few prominent, outspoken, well known critics of his administration. Tom Campbell had recently defeated Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore for the GOP nod in Califorina. Nikki Haley had recently returned to the South Carolina legislature as an up-and-coming reformer who had a strong showing in the primary for governor, but didn't have quite enough to make it over the top.

Such may have been the Alaskan and American political scene had Governor Palin not stepped aside from the governor's office. As Governor Palin stated when she made that famous, shocking announcement a year ago, she had no intention of running for a second term, nor did she want to waste countless hours of staff time and hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer monies fighting the ridiculousness of unfounded lawsuits, so she resigned. She no longer wanted to be relegated to spending the majority of her time battling dozens of baseless frivolous ethics charges which was not productive for her state. She instead knew she could fight for Alaskans and Americans outside of office, and she knew the man who would fill her place would follow the same agenda as she had.

It's hard to delve into alternative history, but one has to wonder how the political landscape would appear if Sarah Palin was still the governor of Alaska. I don't think it would be too far from the aforementioned scenario. She would have made progress on the pipeline (as is being done anyway) and would have continued to battle with legislators to ensure a modest budget was passed. President Obama would be gliding through his first term tone deaf to the voices of the American people. The tea party would still be strong and vocal, but it would not have such a powerful voice, nor widespread coverage, had Governor Palin still been in office. The health care reform bill, stymied enormously by two words and a pair of quotation marks from the Governor, would likely have passed in the Fall of 2009, rather than the Spring of 2010. Aside from Governor Palin, there has not been a voice that has consistently, boldly, and unabashedly spoken against the overreach of the federal government, the reckless spending, and enemy centric foreign policy of the Obama administration. Had Sarah Palin remained governor of Alaska, she could not speak in such a way without an ethics complaint being levied at her. She likely could not have been a vocal supporter of candidates for office, and no one knows about the power of a Palin endorsement better than two fellow mama grizzlies-- Carly Fiorina and Nikki Haley. Both of these women are definitely strong candidates in their own right, but without the endorsement of Governor Palin, they may not have received the visibility and campaign funds to put them over the top. The same could be said of many other candidates.

When Governor Palin uttered the words, " I never thought that I, nor anyone else, needs a title to do this--to make a difference, to help people" just one year ago, in her signature display of self-confident humility, she likely did not know just how great her influence would be. Sarah Palin, without the official title of current governor, has been a voice for everyday Americans, speaking against progressivism, speaking for the principles of our Constitution and supporting those candidates who stand for those conservative principles. The anklebiters and the Left may have thought temporarily that they had won a great victory, but time has most definitely proven otherwise. What do we have left to say but thank you?



Cross posted here and here.