Like most Americans, I have been trying to figure out the implications of John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Who the heck is this woman? Will her presence on the GOP ticket help or hurt McCain, Bob Barr and Barack Obama? Is she, as rumored, sorta-kinda libertarian-leaning?
It's still too early to draw any firm conclusions, but my guess is that Palin will NOT help McCain's chances, she's not even close to being a libertarian, but she may keep a handful of Republicans from voting Libertarian anyway.
I hate to pile on with the Democrats, but I have to agree with their assessment that Ms. Palin is not ready to be Vice President, especially when the President she'd be serving with is 72 years old and prone to temper tantrums. I'd guess that if McCain becomes President, there's at least one chance in four that he will keel over during his first term!
And while Ms. Palin seems like a sharp lady, a mom with five kids -- one only a few months old -- just has too many family responsibilities to be dealing with heads of state and trying to navigate the treacherous shoals of Washington power politics as a newbie.
As for her being a closet libertarian, it seems unlikely. Yes, she's a member of the NRA, and she has tried to rein in the growth of government in Alaska. But she's a SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE. She supports the war in Iraq, and she's a fervent "right to lifer" (i.e. she favors involuntary servitude for pregnant woman), and I'll bet she doesn't favor ending the War on Drugs anytime soon either. Correct me if I'm wrong.
If John McCain's biggest concern is to galvanize the social conservatives in his party, he should have chosen Mike Huckabee. I disagree with The Huckster on about 80% of the issues, but he has demonstrated an ability to motivate grassroots activists and he did very well in a part of the country that McCain desperately needs to carry. Sarah Palin has demonstrated nothing. (And I hope she quickly loses her strange habit of applauding her own remarks!)
On balance, I don't really care much whether Palin helps McCain in November. No doubt, some disaffected Republicans who might have voted for Barr as a way of expressing their dissatisfaction with McCain will now revert to their conditioned behavior, but I don't think there will be a lot of them. As for me, I'm still voting for Bob Barr.
©2008 David F. Nolan, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Saturday, August 30, 2008
Last modified: Saturday, August 30, 2008
The views expressed in this article are those of David F. Nolan only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. David F. Nolan is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: Steve
Date: 2008-08-30 19:47:01
David,
"And while Ms. Palin seems like a sharp lady, a mom with five kids -- one only a few months old -- just has too many family responsibilities to be dealing with heads of state and trying to navigate the treacherous shoals of Washington power politics as a newbie."
Some how, I think she is already getting a lot of help raising her kids. I don't imagine running the State of Alaska is a walk in the park. Really David, that one paragraph comes across as so unrealistic 1950s.
Here in the modern world we have woman who are running larg corporations and raising the kids just fine.
Posted By: Eric Dondero
Date: 2008-08-31 04:02:40
Yes, precisely. She supports the War in Iraq. WHICH MAKES HER A LIBERTARIAN.
Those who oppose the War in Iraq, and the overall War on Islamo-Fascism, are defacto aligned with Fascism and against Liberty. This means, support for:
Forcing women to wear ugly black burqas, de-legalization of marijuana in the Netherlands and other Islamo-Fascist hotbeds, stoning prostitutes in town squares, and cutting off the genitals or public hangings of those caught in homosexual behavior.
Tell us please Davie, how that is consistent with Liberty?
And if you doubt Sarah Palin is a Libertarian, just ask the Libertarian Party of Alaska who endorsed her in 2006 for Governor, INCLUDING the LPA candidate for Governor in 06 Billy Toien himself, and the State Chairman Jason Dowell.
Ms. Palin attended not one, BUT TWO local Libertarian Party meetings in 2005/06.
And yesterday the Libertarian Party of Alaska posted a big article on their Blog "Congratulating" Sarah Palin for being McCain's pick.
Oh, and the Denver Post, and the top Western Canada media source The Standard, both headlined stories yesterday, calling Palin "A libertarian Republican."
But then again, what would you know about being a libertarian Davie? You're just an Anarchist America-hater using the libertarian label as cover.
Posted By: Eric Dondero
Date: 2008-08-31 05:36:11
Please note, Mr. Nolan's negative reaction to Sarah Palin is the ONLY negative reaction in the entire libertarian blogosphere that we have found from a prominent "libertarian". Others have praised Ms. Palin, including Alan Boch of the Orange Cty Register, Former Libertarian Party National Vice-Chair Chuck Moulton, Alaska Libertarian Party Chair Jason Dowell, Noted libertarian Psychologist Dr. Helen Smith, and even Nick Bradley of LewRockwell.com.
(You can see all their quotes over at Libertarian Republican blog)
Seems the ever so sourpuss Mr. Nolan is all by his lonesome.
Eric Dondero, Founder
Republican Liberty Caucus
Fmr. Senior Aide, US Congressman Ron Paul
Fmr. Libertarian National Committee mbr.
Posted By: Jim Peterson
Date: 2008-08-31 06:01:22
I agree with Eric that Mr. Nolan has sure picked strange examples of what a good libertarian should concentrate on (pro gay and pro drugs should be low on the priority list). Maybe I am biased because I happen to be a male heterosexual, but I would prefer to know Palin's view on victim feminism and how she will stop the alliance now going on between Christian evangelists and Marxist feminists (they cooperated in "bipartisan support" for the IMBRA and VAWA laws).
Otherwise, I would prefer to see how she feels about heterosexual male pursuits:
1) Would she ban porn and be anti-strip-club?
2) Would she back sting operations to snare men into agreeing to pay for sex?
3) Does she agree with McCain and Clinton that men should be forcibly background checked before being allowed to say hello to women online?
Is Mr. Nolan gay himself? If not, then I would prefer that he concentrate on key issues where feminists, in line with evangelist Republicans, are attacking basic rights of heterosexual males.
Then again, maybe I am biased because I happen to belong to that rare minority group called male heterosexual. :-)
Posted By: Jim Peterson
Date: 2008-08-31 06:07:08
I supported the Iraq War but I will campaign against McCain/Palin if I hear more talk about the US militarily trying to win back South Ossetia as part of Georgia, by secretly supplying Georgians with arms with which more Georgians would die.
I live in Russia for a good reason: It is getting rich and has a huge libertarian mindset. Putin is getting a bum rap from liberal western journalists because he will not let them spew their nonsense while being funded by Soros. It would be insane for the USA not to be friends with libertarian Russia.
Posted By: John Howell
Date: 2008-08-31 09:03:38
Dave,
I love you but really, the comment about taking care of kids? Would you say that about a man who has five kids and one of them being an infant? Our party needs women if we are ever going to succeed. You just scared off half of the ones we already have.
As for the comments above that ask you what you'd know about being a Libertarian? You founded the party for Chrissake. That comment doesn't deserve a response.
Perhaps we need to have a dialogue about what it means to be a Libertarian or libertarian. It's not about drugs and sex. But drugs and sex are the pressure points where true Liberty is tested. Those who value liberty and the Constitution pass that test. The rest are just facist-statists at some point on the continuum.
Posted By: Thom
Date: 2008-08-31 13:41:17
I think it is rather presumptuous and sexist to suggest that Palin could not effectively serve as VP because of family duties with 5 children. Would you say the same if a man with 5 children was chosen?
And for the record, there are many libertarians who are pro-life (I am one of them), and who are old enough to remember our overdue, but ill-planned and sudden pullout of Vietnam causing nothing but increased pain for everybody.
I'd love to be able to vote for Barr and Palin, actually....
Posted By: ken
Date: 2008-08-31 21:51:59
More drivel from Dondero on the continuing effort to identify Libertarianism with non-Libertarian, right-wing positions.
Part of the campaign is to not only claim people like Nolan don't know what they're talking about, but outright insults, laced with pious claims of support from the e.g. dsgraced Moulton, who spent his time in e-mail rants accusing Nolan of ranting and boasting the party belongs now to people like him.
Posted By: Stefan
Date: 2008-09-01 04:37:51
There are pro-life Libertarians and they should not need to justify themselves, rather those that are pro-abortion(2nd, 3rd trimester) should ask themselves how you can defend liberty without defending life itself. Note it is not social liberal to kill an unborn baby.
A non-interventionist foreign policy is a cornerstone of true libertarian philosophy. In short, anyone who supports the Iraq war, actually invasion or occupation of Iraq is automatically disqualified from being called a libertarian.
Dondero shows - not surprisingly - utmost naivity on other cultures and religions. It is mostly in the shiite countries where a black burka is used, in the sunni dominated countries (especially in Asia), they use colourful burka's and in a country like Turkey, Lebanon no burka at all.
Apropo women in the Islamic world, Pakistan, Indonesia etc. have had female prime ministers years ago, while the US or Israel for that matter is far from it. In Iran for instance women can become MP's and be active in politics. Eric, don't tell me other countries know nothing about liberty and don't tell me a country with warrantless services, suspension of habeus corpus for a few years, FISA, killings of political (non terrorist) enemies is a role model for liberty!
A leftwing liberal position supports interventionism in other countries, like with the communist times. The US empire and interventionism in the Middle East especially, is thus a very (ultra) leftwing philosophy, and extremely anti-conservative, anti-family (where dead or injured soldiers destroy family life).
Posted By: Steve
Date: 2008-09-01 11:38:53
Stefan,
I don't believe that there many if any pro-abortion libertarians or democrats for that mater. There are people who are pro-choice. These people would rather see abortion, safe and rare. These people know that when abortion was criminal in the past that all it did was hurt pour woman. The weathy and the middle class could often cross state lines or country borders to have the procedure done.
I believe the libertarian position should remain. Like other medical procedures, abortion is none of the governments buisness. Governments should neither fund nor ban abortions. As a decision it should left to the woman, her doctor and her spouse and clergy if she desires. The anti abortion forces would be doing the world so much better if they were to help with the pro-choise forces to provide education and contraceptives in order to make abortion unnessary.
Posted By: JG
Date: 2008-09-01 19:26:56
You do realize that Sarah Palin is a governor of a state that has decriminalized marijuana? Posession of 1 ounce or less is legal in Alaska.
It's amazing that people do not grasp that one can be a "pro-lifer" without using the force of government to push their beliefs. I am pro-life, but I would not use the force of government to push that upon you. Am I the only one? I do not think so.
We need politicians that can keep their personal beliefs apart from their political actions.
John McCain looks years younger than Ron Paul. Would we have all this talk about being "a heartbeat away" had Paul won the nomination?
JG
Posted By: Susan Hogarth
Date: 2008-09-08 13:08:18
I think it is rather presumptuous and sexist to suggest that Palin could not effectively serve as VP because of family duties with 5 children. Would you say the same if a man with 5 children was chosen?
Dunno about David, but I sure would. Actually, I guess I'd worry more about his/her effectiveness as a parent than as VP. Because Ineffective absentee politicians are generally a Good Thing, but ineffective absentee parents - not-so-much.
Posted By: Stefan
Date: 2008-09-08 13:19:13
Steve: it is the position of Ron Paul that the abortion issue is not an issue for the federal government, but for the state governments. If you see life as starting with conception, or shortly afterwards (40 days), then an abortion is a killing, the initiation of force. I would say both the man and woman are involved and responsible, not only the woman. Just like you cannot say it is the woman's choice to kill her baby or child in her private home, the same is valid with regard to an unborn baby. It is a difficult issue, of course. But the fact is that Roe & Wade is one of the most "liberal" abortion laws in the world. According to it, it is possible to do an abortion in the third trimester. The whole issue - as Ron Paul points out - is how is it possible that an abortion one hour before a baby leaves the womb of his/her mother, is permissable, but one minute or hour after the official birth or separation from the body of the mother, the abortion of the baby is seen as murder. Does life start in those few minutes or hours?
Posted By: Stefan
Date: 2008-09-08 13:25:13
JG "John McCain looks years younger than Ron Paul. Would we have all this talk about being "a heartbeat away" had Paul won the nomination?"
You gotta be kidding. The fact is that Ron Paul looks AND acts younger than his age and McCain much older. Paul looks and acts much younger than McCain, although he is a year older.
Also: Ron Paul is very healthy and active, while McCain had skincancer and suffer from body restrictions and if he cancer returns - as is possible - he may probably not be in a position to continue. Remember also that Paul is very calm, stable and irrational, while McCain very impulsive, unstable and emotional.
Posted By: Chad Rushing
Date: 2008-09-08 18:06:56
"... she's a fervent "right to lifer" (i.e. she favors involuntary servitude for pregnant woman) ..."
Servitude to whom? The defenseless, unborn children women voluntarily (with rare exceptions) parent through their pursuit of short-sighted sexual gratification with like-minded men??? I mean no personal offense to the author, but that is possibly the most mind-bogglingly nonsensical statement I have read online this year, and this year has had a bumper crop of nonsense due to the current presidential campaign.
Here I was thinking that philosophical libertarianism advocated individuals taking full responsibility for the natural consequences of their deliberate, willful actions. I guess the exception is supposed to be that people who choose to play sexual "Russian roulette" are not to be held accountable if/when they manage to "shoot" themselves by creating a pregnancy as nature intended. For those who lack any sexual self-control, it is not like contraceptives (i.e., preventing conception) are not available at every corner store in America; they even give them out for free at some places!
If this "pregnancy = servitude" concept is the official stance of the Libertarian Party proper, it will not be getting one iota of support from me in this lifetime. That is not to say I believe abortion policy should be a federal issue like many other anti-abortioners do, though. The respective states should determine their own individual abortion policies.
Posted By: Daniel
Date: 2008-09-08 22:53:40
Get a grip folks. Palin energized the social conservatives and the Christian right like very few others could. They will go in droves to the polls to vote for her. All the attacks by the media only strengthen their loyalty. This election, although already decided a long time ago, was just finalized. It will be a landslide victory for McCain even though the opinion polls will show it as being close.
Posted By: Jean-Christophe Roux
Date: 2008-09-09 12:12:33
I am a huge fan of Sarah Palin. I hope she will win it all, including the presidency for herself! Why? Because it will make my favorite sport, US politics, much more entertaining.
I dislike her ideas but this is not the point. We are talking government here. Policies are irrelevant. Issues do not matter. Left, right, centrist, independent, socialist, fascist... they are statists. Whether they grow government to fight terrorism, save the planet, serve the country., educate the poor, force the righ to be good human being.. is irrelevant. Government is always bad. And dangerous. And destructive. And the enemy of freedom. And growing. Only guys with years of government service can think like that Bob Barr that a new Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties within the Executive Office of the President will help shrink government.
The whole idea of government doing something for the people is a fantasy. There is no way a politician can raise taxes, spend the money, get elected, pass regulation, enforce laws and be honest. The only vote for freedom is abstentionism. I would be serious though about a candidate like Mary Ruwart who would genuinely support an anarcho-libertarian agenda but since she could not run and there is no Libertarian around this year, I am a huge fan of Sarah Palin.
I like the way she claps her hands exactly like I do with my kids. I like her voice. I like her big family. What a disgusting argument that her family would make it impossible for her to have a job like vice-president of the USA. I like Alaska. I like her small-town, hunting story. She is clean America. The attacks against her are so low that it has become entertaining and there is nothing more entertaining in politics than an angry liberal or an angry libertarian.She is so refreshing, so perfect. I am so infatuated.
Posted By: David F. Nolan
Date: 2008-09-09 15:15:59
If this article and the preceding comments interested you, I invite you to read my follow-up: http://www.nolanchart.com/article4771.html