<i<Throughout it all, Mrs. Palin has stood for reform, though not populism. She thanks oil companies and says executives who “seek maximum revenue” are “simply doing their job.” She says her own job is to be a “savvy” negotiator on behalf of Alaska’s citizens and to provide credible oversight. It is this combination that lets her aggressively promote new energy while retaining public trust.

Today’s congressional Republicans could learn from this. The party has been plagued by earmarks, scandal and corruption. Most members have embraced the machine. That has diminished voters’ trust, and in the process diminished good, conservative ideas. It is no wonder 37 million people tuned in to Mrs. Palin’s convention speech. They are looking for something fresh.

A problem may be that popular culture has allowed the left, anti-business agenda to define the vocabulary of reform, when we all realize that big government poses big temptations to those elected.

When Sarah Palin booked a flight to Europe, the French immediately surrendered.

Sarah Palin is respectful. She begins each day with a moment of silence for the political enemies buried in her backyard.

Sarah Palin always beats the point spread.

Sarah Palin once bit the head off a live Osprey snatched from the air as it flew off with a Yellow Tail Rockfish she landed.

Sarah Palin uses French Canadians as bait to catch giant king salmon.

Sarah Palin knows who was on the Grassy Knoll.

This kind of thing didn’t help Thompson all that much, but I don’t see how these memes can’t make the next two months more cheerful if nothing else.

It’s also pretty hard to see such a woman as a populist expecting the government to manage a perfect society: it isn’t so much theoretical libertarian as gut libertarian.

It’s my impression that people who live in the NE and Chicago often don’t realize that the infrastructure and level of govt services they are accustomed to would be considered inferior in other parts of the country.

I mostly agree with you about Palin. I don’t have illusions that she is a perfect libertarian or that she would be influential in a McCain administration, but I am excited because 1) McCain may actually win the election with her help and 2) I now see a clear possibility that a small-govt person will eventually become President. I can easily put up with rhetorical populism as long as she remains essentially a small-govt person. Perhaps she will. I suppose that we won’t know for some time.

The ‘frontier’ areas have often provided not only economic dynamism, but political dynamism. That’s what I was getting at mentioning all the Presidents that came from Ohio, when it was ‘the west’

One question I have about her is whether she really has a populist streak, as appeared to be the case during her speech at the Convention, or whether her apparent populism is an affectation intended to serve McCain’s agenda. I find it difficult to reconcile populism with sophistication about economic matters. (McCain does it by being unsophisticated about economics, but I don’t think Palin can use this excuse.)

I agree she has an American-West sense of independence, a smell of freedom about her.

I also agree she not a libertarian in that she doesn’t want to dismantle government down to roads/police/army/nothing-else, although she clearly believes the Washington establishment is too big, too powerful, too intrusive and too corrupt. (I agree on all counts). But she does see government as having a role to play in delivering social services (I have to agree on that too. I don’t want people living in squalor or not having enough food.)

To say that she clearly is not a conservative needs clarification (on your part). I don’t even know what that means anymore, so many people of varying ideologies having claimed that mantle.

To conserve means to keep, to protect. I would hazard that in its truest sense, then, a Conservative would keep and protect the spirit of the Founders, honing to the philosophies of the Declaration and the Constitution as originally written – if I wanted to be a technocrat about it, which I don’t.

Please clarify that a little Jon. What do you mean?

We get your point. We don’t agree. We’re moving on. I would appreciate if from now on you would limit your comments here to your own original thoughts and keep them relatively brief. We all have access to the same stuff on the Web as you do. People read this blog for a particular perspective, which you don’t share, which is OK. However, you might do better to invest more of your energies in your own blog rather than try to educate us.

http://my2bucks.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/a-letter-from-someone-who-has-known-sarah-palin-since-1992/