Last night I finished reading Governor Palin's newest book, America by Heart. It was a wonderful, encouraging, challenging read. In fact, I fear I read it too quickly and didn't let everything sink in--kind of like when you regret eating a piece of dark chocolate too quickly. I will be re-reading it soon.
I found the book almost to be like an American took a theoretical journey similar to that of Alexis de Tocqueville when he traveled throughout all of America in the early 19th century observing American culture, politics, and Founding documents. In a sense, that's what Governor Palin did when she wrote this book. She viewed America's Founding documents, speeches by Presidents like Reagan, Kennedy, and Coolidge. She spoke of American work ethic and how great joy comes through the effort of hard work, not entitlement. She wrote of issues of race and feminism. She wrote of her personal experiences with family-- the birth of her children and her relationship with her husband. She wrote of her faith--how it is both deeply personal, but also very public.
Many politicians and political leaders write about such things, but there is something different about how Governor Palin presents the message. I think it has something to do with the title--America by Heart. It wasn't America by Mind or Thoughts on American Exceptionalism; it was America by Heart. The thoughts that she put down on paper were heart-felt. They were genuine. She didn't present a long dissertation on feminism or economics, but she did present well-reasoned, heart felt thoughts on those topics. You knew that she meant every word she wrote. Her words weren't focused group tested or written for the sake of political expediency; they were written because she meant them.
During the 2008 campaign, in the nascent days of my political awareness, I decided to read Obama's book, the Audacity of Hope, and McCain's book, Faith of my Fathers, prior to election day, hoping to get a first person perspective of the two men running for president. Prior to the 2008 campaign, I'd only really seen the term,"hope", as a religious term. Particularly, I always thought of hope as described by the writer of Hebrews in the New Testament: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see". We hope for things in the future, and things not of this world, but of eternity. Without getting too theological, suffice it to say, hope to me, was looking ahead to something, rather than viewing things in light of the present or the past.
When Obama's campaign mantra was "hope and change", what I thought about was a forward focused hope in what the country could be changed to. This is what Obama said, even a fundamental transformation of America. What America is currently is not good. There is no American exceptionalism--at least exclusively. He was "bold" enough to hope though that America could and would be transformed to something "better". This is what separates President Obama and Governor Palin both in terms of their books and their ideology. Governor Palin's book outlines American Exceptionalism as America was in its founding and what it still is today. There isn't a hoping for a better America. That exceptional America is already here, if we choose to recognize who we are as a nation and what our Founders intended for America to be. This is why Governor Palin said at the Restoring Honor rally that we need to "fundamentally restore America".
Governor Palin sees that a great America is nothing to be hoped for because it is already here, if we choose to live like that is the truth--the audacity of American Exceptionalism.
Cross posted here and here.
Showing posts with label America by Heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label America by Heart. Show all posts
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Early Thoughts on America by Heart
For me this is the essence of freedom: to be a child of God whose God-given rights and responsibilities are respected by her government under the Constitution.
-Governor Palin
America by Heart
After work today, I went to my local Barnes and Noble bookstore to pick up Governor Palin's new book. I picked it up from a display near the front of the store, but what I find fitting is that her memoir, Going Rogue, was found in between biographies about Thomas Paine and General Patton. I had read a few positive reviews earlier in the day by people who had actually read the whole book. I had also read a piece by race baiter, Richard Cohen, and another piece by Canadian RINO, David Frum.Both had obviously not read the book yet.
Prior to what will likely be my final time watching Dancing with the Stars, I read the introduction and first chapter of the book. I decided to brew some tea, which I felt was the appropriate beverage to accompany such a book.
What I found in the first few dozen pages was that Governor Palin essentially did what Alexis de Tocqueville did when he came to America as a 26 year old. de Tocqueville came from France early in the 19th century to see what really made America exceptional and what made it function so much better than other countries. He then wrote a book, Democracy in America, entailing his discoveries through his travels and studies of the Founding documents. Governor Palin did the same thing by studying Americans and those "charters of liberty" as an American herself--something we should all probably do individually.
She speaks of the beauty of the tea party movement and how you can see America through that movement. She spoke of the wisdom and time tested truths found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,and she speaks of the need for judges to use the Constitution as their guide for decision making, not empathy, as President Obama once suggested.
Reports by the MSM would have you believe that Governor Palin, in writing this book, only drew from watching the movie Juno. What you see in the introduction and first chapter is that she draws from Presidents Reagan, Coolidge, Lincoln, and even Obama (both negatively and positively). She references Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (one of my favorite movies too). She speaks of American exceptionalism and gives us a historical, philosophical, and ideological lesson on what our country truly was founded on and what makes it great. As she has said many times, America doesn't need to be transformed, but restored. That begins with us. She writes about members of her family who weren't ever particularly political who got involved in the Tea Party movement.
She ends the first chapter with an excellent discussion of the ills of slavery and racism and how our nation overcame those evils. The irony lies in the pieces that Cohen and Frum wrote prior to reading Governor Palin's book.How can someone criticize another about the prejudice of race when they themselves are prejudiced about that other person? They criticize her of supposed racism or a lack of historical knowledge when Palin spends a solid third of her first chapter talking about the political battle during the Constitutional convention over slavery and the political process that addressed the racism that is unfortunately part of history. She quotes Martin Luther King Jr. and President Obama, wishing that President Obama would govern with the perspective he spoke of in 2008.
These first pages spell out what makes me respect and admire Governor Palin so much. She loves America, and she lays out what makes America so great. She recognizes that our Founding documents are blueprints, not doormats. She is optimistic--not in the American government, but in the American people.
I look forward to reading the rest of the book in the coming days.
-Governor Palin
America by Heart
After work today, I went to my local Barnes and Noble bookstore to pick up Governor Palin's new book. I picked it up from a display near the front of the store, but what I find fitting is that her memoir, Going Rogue, was found in between biographies about Thomas Paine and General Patton. I had read a few positive reviews earlier in the day by people who had actually read the whole book. I had also read a piece by race baiter, Richard Cohen, and another piece by Canadian RINO, David Frum.Both had obviously not read the book yet.
Prior to what will likely be my final time watching Dancing with the Stars, I read the introduction and first chapter of the book. I decided to brew some tea, which I felt was the appropriate beverage to accompany such a book.
What I found in the first few dozen pages was that Governor Palin essentially did what Alexis de Tocqueville did when he came to America as a 26 year old. de Tocqueville came from France early in the 19th century to see what really made America exceptional and what made it function so much better than other countries. He then wrote a book, Democracy in America, entailing his discoveries through his travels and studies of the Founding documents. Governor Palin did the same thing by studying Americans and those "charters of liberty" as an American herself--something we should all probably do individually.
She speaks of the beauty of the tea party movement and how you can see America through that movement. She spoke of the wisdom and time tested truths found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,and she speaks of the need for judges to use the Constitution as their guide for decision making, not empathy, as President Obama once suggested.
Reports by the MSM would have you believe that Governor Palin, in writing this book, only drew from watching the movie Juno. What you see in the introduction and first chapter is that she draws from Presidents Reagan, Coolidge, Lincoln, and even Obama (both negatively and positively). She references Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (one of my favorite movies too). She speaks of American exceptionalism and gives us a historical, philosophical, and ideological lesson on what our country truly was founded on and what makes it great. As she has said many times, America doesn't need to be transformed, but restored. That begins with us. She writes about members of her family who weren't ever particularly political who got involved in the Tea Party movement.
She ends the first chapter with an excellent discussion of the ills of slavery and racism and how our nation overcame those evils. The irony lies in the pieces that Cohen and Frum wrote prior to reading Governor Palin's book.How can someone criticize another about the prejudice of race when they themselves are prejudiced about that other person? They criticize her of supposed racism or a lack of historical knowledge when Palin spends a solid third of her first chapter talking about the political battle during the Constitutional convention over slavery and the political process that addressed the racism that is unfortunately part of history. She quotes Martin Luther King Jr. and President Obama, wishing that President Obama would govern with the perspective he spoke of in 2008.
These first pages spell out what makes me respect and admire Governor Palin so much. She loves America, and she lays out what makes America so great. She recognizes that our Founding documents are blueprints, not doormats. She is optimistic--not in the American government, but in the American people.
I look forward to reading the rest of the book in the coming days.
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