I Finally Have a Horse in the Race
Posted on 06 September 2008 by Lisa Pawlowski
Sen. John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate and I’m thrilled.
You see, I’m a conservative, and here’s what that means to me. I’m for small government, small taxes, and largely a keep-your-nose-out-of my-business-type government--unless someone is getting hurt. I think government should protect the country and keep roads paved, and that’s about it. Prisons? Privatize them. The education system? Privatize it. The healthcare system? I don’t know what we should do about that. We’ve done a bit of both privatizing and government intervention and it’s still a mess. I’ll leave that debate to people who have answers.
I’m also for fiscal responsibility. Neither party has lived up to this part. This country’s deficit is outrageous. Incurring some debt is to be expected because we are fighting two wars. But politicians from both sides have seemed to have taken the in for a penny, in for a pound philosophy, thinking, “Well, the debt is huge anyway, let’s just pay for everyone’s drugs while we’re at it. And let’s add this and this and this, too.”
I can’t vote for Obama because he has already said he’s going to grow the government, promising all sorts of relief for people’s pain. But I don’t need someone in government holding my hand or commiserating with me. Government has more important things to do than that. And while I admire McCain for not necessarily toeing the party line, he is not what I’d call a conservative because he’s all for bailing out big business (Fannie May and Freddie Mack and said he’d bail out an American car maker if it filed for bankruptcy) even after they have made stupid business decisions. So I’ve been watching the political news as a reserved outsider, not able to get excited, thinking I have a choice between bad and worse, which is the same way I’ve felt for the past two elections.
McCain picking Sarah Palin was a smart move. With her, he’s trying to pick up alienated women voters who thought Hillary got a raw deal. Palin will draw in the pro-lifers and pro-gun people as she is fiercely pro-life and is a lifetime member of the NRA. After becoming governor of Alaska, she advanced plans for a 1,715 mile pipeline, so she has some definite opinions about America’s future energy ideas. And at the young age of 44, she has executive experience as a governor.
But this is what appeals to me about Palin. When she became governor of Alaska, she promised to reduce spending and increase government accountability and transparency, and her popularity rose to over 80 percent when she enacted an ethics bill that cancelled pork projects that would have benefited her fellow Republicans. She has cojones. Oh, and in addition, she’s married to her high school sweetheart and she’s the mother of five children, the oldest of whom is fighting in Iraq. In other words, she’s a decent person, and it’s sad to say that we don’t see those very often when comes to our leaders.
McCain and Obama are probably decent, too, for the most part. But I think so many politicians eventually get to the point where they run for these positions because they want to get something out of it, rather than do the right things and govern responsibly.
Popularity: 11% [?]
September 6th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I like Palin as well. I don’t agree with all of her politics but it is about time we had a person with real life experience somewhere in the mix.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Now you know I agree with you most of the time, the one thing that I can not say for certain is that I only want the government to protect us and pave roads. There is a role for government in banking regulation, in insurance regulation and setting environmental standards. Free enterprise does a lot and I do not want government to stifle the creative market forces that create new products.
However, unregulated free enterprise in certain industries has been a disaster, the financial markets in the 1920’s being the prime example. My thought is that health insurance is a field that some government regulation is needed. Too many people are deemed uninsurable, the government has found ways to insure flood zones, they need to find ways to insure people with a pre-existing condition.
September 6th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
@Travis: Real life experience? What real life experience does Sarah Palin have that any of the rest do not? The only experience I can think of is feminine. I didn’t realize that feminine experience was considered “real life.”
September 6th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Great BLOG Lisa. I like her because she seems like one of “us” meaning for “us” its refreshing to have some body in politics that I feel like I can relate too and I dont mean that becuase she is feminine…it could all be a facade…but the more faults people find or dig up about her the more relatable and apealing she is…whats this have to do with political experience…well I guess as much as it would with Obamas experience…I would rather have the one that seems more sincere…politics evolve…as should politicians.Lisa I really agree with your views on small government…Allright who is going to land Glen Beck for a CF interview?
September 7th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I have to correct an error I found in my article. It’s Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac instead of the stupid thing I wrote. Forgive me, please.
Michael, I realize that government is needed in many places. For instance, the hurricane disaster in the Gulf Coast. This time the government was on it and worked the way it should. And we saw what happened with Katrina when the government leaves people to their own devices. Sometimes government has to step in and protect people from themselves. But I also think that when people do something dumb, they need to feel the consequences so they don’t do again. Once on the news I saw an interview with a couple who was retired (didn’t have a steady paycheck coming in) they had their house paid off and went out and bought a new house. Not surprisingly, they were crying because they couldn’t afford it. I don’t think the government should bail out those people. You would know better than to do that. Probably ninety percent of people know that you are supposed to have your home paid off before you retire. I think those people should live with their families, and of course, come out of retirement.
The American car makers have known for years that gas and oil was going to go up and yet, they chose to continue to make big, gas-guzzling cars and haven’t worked on new technology to make their product efficient. Business is all about looking to the future, anticipating trends and filling a need. And this was a big one to miss. I’m willing to bet that if they know government won’t bail them out, they won’t be as likely to make that mistake again.
The difference between liberals and conservatives is where they draw the line on government involvement. I think we’re on the same page, but I admit, I’m a bit hard core.
To Aaron, ssshh. Don’t tell anyone, but as you can probably guess, I’m a big GB fan.