“…If I ever had a chance to serve my fellow citizens, I would do so, and I’d work for the ordinary, hardworking people—like everyone who was a part of my ordinary, hardworking world.”—Sarah Palin, Going Rogue: An American Life

Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue: An American Life, a title she likely chose to pay witty tribute to the occasions when some McCain staffers labeled her “rogue” as a result of her deviation from their pre-determined script, reminds me of the things in life that matter most—family, humor, simplicity, integrity, and the exquisite exhaustion that can only result from a good, hard day’s work or a good, hard run.  She begins with a dedication to “all Patriots who share my love of the United States of America…particularly to our women and men in uniform…”  The four-hundred and thirteen page autobiographical journey chronicles her Alaskan youth—replete with an adventurous father who instilled both a love of the land and a sense of independence in his four children while mom Sally’s profound faith and reverence for literature ultimately found a home in daughter Sarah’s soul—as well as her ups and downs as a Wasilla City Council member, Mayor, Alaska Governor, and United States Vice Presidential candidate.  Engaging facets of her policy, political philosophy, personal challenges, and passionate undertaking to secure a gas pipeline to conduct clean energy to the Lower 48, are illuminated through Palin’s inviting first-person narration that is sometimes whimsical, often confident, and always patriotic.

Palin almost immediately establishes herself as someone who reveres the ideals that she cherishes most—her faith, her family, and her liberty—but who also has a pungent distaste for the hypocrisy of the political machine:  “But it seemed that every level of government I encountered was paralyzed by the same politics-as-usual system.  I wasn’t wired to play that game” (5).  She later echoes a kindred reflection:  “…I had to live with my own conscience, so I voted according to my principles and let the chips fall where they may” (66).  Palin pledges allegiance to her convictions and both the Alaska and United States constitutions, but not to her party, narrating several instances when she confronted GOP waste and corruption, choosing instead to side with her self-proclaimed “commonsense conservatism”:  “At the time, both parties, nationally and locally, were spending uncontrollably.  No wonder voters couldn’t tell Republicans from Democrats” (146).

Palin repeatedly honors grassroots movements, from the inspiring grassroots efforts to which she attributes the fortitude of her campaign for Alaska Governor to the loyal supporters who packed McCain-Palin rallies in 2008 to the recent tea parties fighting to limit government intrusion into their homes, health, and businesses.  Her love for Alaska is remarkable, and she dedicates numerous passages to the splendor of the land, “rugged individualism” of the Alaskan spirit, and her ultimate decision to resign when countless false ethics allegations—and the outstanding costs, paperwork, and harassment that followed—crippled both her and her office from their rightful duties of serving Alaskans, draining funds that could have been otherwise utilized to preserve and enhance the state she treasures.

A good deal of time is spent clearing up false accusations and reports which many media enclaves deemed it unimportant to correct, and she debunks widespread myths and rumors with the same confident ease with which she unapologetically affirms her American pride.  As with most things, Palin isn’t afraid to speak her mind with respect to the media (whose “expert” Palin inside sources like André McLeod and Andrew Halcro are humorously exposed), a handful of McCain staffers (from their insistence that she “Just stick with the script” to their willingness—particularly that of Steve Schmidt—to throw her under the bus when poll numbers didn’t go their way), and Ronald Reagan (whose ideals and “steel spine” she proudly salutes).  It’s important to note that Palin never criticizes MCain himself; in fact, she speaks honorably of both the former POW and his wife, as well as pays homage to both Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro for shattering glass ceilings and solidifying the verity of the strong, political female.

Palin doesn’t victimize herself or her predicaments, but rather calls it like she sees it.  My personal favorite is her response to John Kerry’s former declaration that if kids don’t study hard, they will wind up in Iraq:  “What a loon, I thought.  What an elitist loon” (181).  However, the underlying wish that she had been given the chance to speak to the American people more from her own heart, to unleash the confident, daunting spirit she harbors along with the authentic, small-town accent and inner tomboy she’s proud to call her own, can’t help but be brought to life with her uninhibited ruminations.  Palin also pays some attention to Couric, including her partisan editing of interview footage without regard for context and well-publicized “What newspapers and magazines did you regularly read…” remark that ironically followed several exchanges between Palin and the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Investor’s Business Daily, and the Association Press.  However, it is ultimately Couric’s commentary regarding the ambiance following the 9/11 attacks (“The whole culture of wearing flags on our lapel and saying ‘we’ when referring to the United States…it was just too jubilant and a little uncomfortable” (279)) that troubled Palin most.  Her response?  One word:  “Unbelievable.”  Regardless, Palin is quick to own up to her own shortcomings, including but not limited to the obvious irritation she wore on her sleeve at points in the Couric interview and her early-on decision to support a well-known candidate, rather than Todd’s step-mom Faye Palin for city council, for fear that Faye may not have been well connected enough to defeat the liberal John Stein.  She bluntly admits wrongdoing:  “…I had let the heat of politics get in the way of family…if you don’t catch yourself:  the heat of battle causes a little core of self-centeredness to harden in your heart, so subtly that you’re not even aware of it.” (88)

Although Palin’s testament to free market principles and a solid work ethic, as well as her pro-life commitment and “commonsense conservatism” are compelling, it is her discussions of her profound love for Trig—and the initial fear and inadequacy that accompanied thoughts of that impending challenge—as well as the delivery of her first child Track, that I found most rewarding as a reader.  Her portrayal of Track’s delivery is relatable and quite funny:  “Since I thought I was dying, I didn’t care that we were in the warehouse part of the hospital.  I figured I’d just die there near the delivery trucks” (52).  Her humanity and vulnerability soar to great heights with each mention of her son Trig, born with Down syndrome, and her love for him and all children with that particular challenge, provide great insight into the softer side of Sarah Palin we hope we’ll get to see more of.

Going Rogue is truly one of those reads in which you put the book down after your eyes graze the final lines and you somehow feel like the writer is someone you’ve known all your life.  Sarah Palin’s passages with respect to her faith, her profound love for Todd as her eternal anchor, and a scattering of witticisms and comical self-evaluations enrich this text with a unique likeability much like the author who gave it life.

Going Rogue isn’t loftily intellectual or ideologically intricate.  It’s real.  It’s rustic.  It’s honest.  It’s Sarah.

Cross-published at:

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-27232-Manhattan-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m11d18-Sarah-Palin-Goes-Rogue#

http://girlpundit.com/2009/11/sarah-palin-goes-rogue/

When I began to hear to his catchy chants of “hope,” “change,” and “Yes We Can,” I was apprehensive.  Hope for?  Change how?  Yes we can what?  He didn’t quite say.  A “community organizer” who had never run so much as a small business, let alone a town, city, or state?  “Uh-oh, an empty suit,” I thought to myself.

When I began to research his policies, affiliations, and voting record, I was alarmed.  America-hating terrorist Bill Ayers?  Racist, anti-American Reverend Wright?  ACORN?  Nearly one-hundred and thirty votes as “present” in the Illinois senate?

And now, roughly ten months into his term, I am horrified.  So are hundreds of thousands of Independents who fell prey to his hope and change discourse, coupled with his crafty moderate-leaning campaign rhetoric, only to ultimately discover that he is in fact a far left ideologue.

To highlight just a few shining moments, let’s recall a $787 billion Recovery and Reinvestment Act that hasn’t recovered a thing…a $3 trillion big government health care proposal that longs to mimic the disastrous monstrosities of Canada and England, stripping Americans of countless liberties, including the right to decide whether they want to purchase insurance at all…a never-ending series of nauseatingly apologetic speeches by our global President that criticize the country that has birthed his every success and pay homage to supreme naiveté in this post-9/11 world.  And now, the coup-de-gras, a declaration that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four terrorist buddies will be tried in federal court in New York City, making my city—you know, the one whose streets I treaded for my life on 9/11 with thousands of others as our noble towers fell from their grace—perhaps more vulnerable than ever.

As a survivor of the New York City 9/11 terrorist attacks who stood no more than fifty feet from Tower 2 as I jolted up and watched an airplane thrust into its center, I urge all Americans—conservatives and liberals alike—to take a moment to consider the profound heinousness of our President and his ally Eric Holder’s decision.  Your hard-earned tax dollars will be defending terrorists who will be tried not as the enemy combatants they are, but rather as Americans, retaining the protection of our judicial system with respect to admissible evidence.  They will enter a New York City court on your dollar, be defended by American lawyers, retain the same civil liberties as you and your family, and likely laugh all the way back to their terrorist homes as they plot the next manner in which to target the very government that has fought so hard to free them.

To those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, let your voices be heard.

Originally published at http://girlpundit.com/2009/11/khalid-sheikh-mohammeds-new-york-city-trial/

I invite you to embark on a journey with me…

A journey throughout which our solidarity will be strengthened by our ideals…

A journey upon which we will effectuate real change in this country via proposed legislation rather than witty campaign slogans, fancy signs, and empty rhetoric…

A journey that enables our voices to be heard loud and clear and our country to be reminded of its roots and guided toward a better tomorrow.

I invite America’s youth, seniors, and everyone in between to join me at the BiG Bridge network.

Our time is now.

**For more information on BiG BridGe, email Jedediah Bila at jedediahbila@earthlink.net.

Originally published at http://girlpundit.com/2009/11/bridging-generations-finale/

I proudly salute the thousands of patriots storming the Capitol alongside Michele Bachmann this afternoon to protect our liberty from this administration’s health care monstrosity.  Special thanks to Mark Levin and Jon Voight for joining hands with us in this fight.

Can you hear us yet, Pelosi?

HANDS. OFF. OUR. HEALTH.

We live in an era imbued with remarkable opportunities and unfortunate realities.  At a time when one is troubled by two ongoing American wars, an administration that has clearly lost touch with both the vast majority of Americans and the tenets that founded the country that has birthed their own successes, it’s very easy to lose sight of such crucial happenings as the slow, but steady breakdown of the American family.

It is the generational divide born from that family breakdown that has fueled the rise to power of the big-government mommy syndrome we are waging war against.  We must recognize that big government has taken on the role of parent, guardian, advisor, and provider in far too many instances, utilizing the breakdown of the American family to further empower its hijacking of caretaker roles, breeding a government dependency into the once industrious heart of America that used to turn to brothers, mothers, great-grandfathers, and themselves—not government—when times got tough.

It is our job to reverse the course.  It is our responsibility—to each other, our children, and our country—to rediscover our own potentiality through the beauty of family, friendship, and inter-generational connectedness.

-TO BE CONTINUED-

My grandfather once told me that “It’s not your age, it’s your wisdom.  And sometimes I think you’ve got the world figured out better than all of us.”  I was just about four years old, swaying to and fro on a swing in Prospect Park, Brooklyn as I wiped my hair from my eyes and squinted up at the radiant sun.

I spent many afternoons with him in that park, followed by pizza, pasta, and endless tasty treats at my Nanny’s for hours to come.  I fell asleep to old stories about “the way things used to be” and awoke to the aroma of intoxicating cooking and the sound of their friendly bickering in the kitchen as they hustled to prepare another day’s worth of enchanting delights.

I spent many of my mornings and evenings with aunts and uncles, learned how to play poker from Poppy’s friend Johnny at the age of six and how to cook an irresistible marinara sauce from Nanny’s bingo partner, Susie.  Some of my fondest middle school memories are of vacationing with my mother and her dearest friends, listening to what life was like in New York City in the 1960’s, hoping to one day build memories almost as rich and unforgettable.

I can’t tell you enough how fortunate I feel to have been raised in a family where the wisdom of so many generations danced in and out of my inexperienced psyche on a momentary basis.  Perhaps it’s the reason I have such profound appreciation for those who have walked before me…for the founders, soldiers, and immigrants of this great country.  Most importantly, it taught me that the insight a child, mother, and grandfather can glean from each other is irreplaceable.  It shapes each link of the chain, creating three complete individuals, each of whom would never have seen the world quite so brightly without the others.

-TO BE CONTINUED-

Take a moment and look back at your life.  Consider all the hands you shook along the way…the support and suggestions that have led to bigger, bolder, and brighter strides.  Recall the smiles, the laughter, and the challenges that birthed your greatest accomplishments and sustained your fortitude when obstacles arose.

Take a minute to consume that positive energy, to envision that network and the strength it awakens in each and every link of the chain.

Now apply it to the conservative movement.  Imagine a movement fed by interconnectedness…a coming together of generations to listen, speak, enchant, discover, and renew.

-TO BE CONTINUED-

Originally published at http://girlpundit.com/2009/10/bridging-generations-pt-1/

It’s no secret that the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has long been a steadfast ally of the Democrat Party.  AARP’s decidedly liberal platform, replete with progressive taxation, gun control, and opposition to Social Security privatization, reached its pinnacle this year when it prioritized devotion to America’s Left over the welfare of its constituents and pledged allegiance to the Obamacare atrocity.  Conservative and Libertarian seniors across America hurriedly sought out rewarding alternatives.

Enter the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC), a nonpartisan, conservative organization founded in 2007 by Daniel C. Weber, a former member of the United States Air Force and successful owner of a family-operated insurance business.  Weber makes no apologies for revering both the U.S. Constitution—including the Second Amendment so blatantly disregarded by AARP—and the free enterprise system that catapulted our nation to great heights.  AMAC’s valiant motto of Faith-Family-Freedom was born from Weber’s desire to protect and foster the American values he holds so dearly:  “I saw the America I love being attacked by people trying to replace our traditional values of faith, family, and individual freedom with a government-controlled, godless society.”  AMAC, which coordinated a number of tea parties in Florida and New York, gallantly opposes socialized medicine and maintains that the most efficient improvements in America’s health care system would undoubtedly emerge via free market-style competition.  The organization offers members thousands of local discounts in New York and Florida, as well as competitive national discounts on auto and home insurance, hotels/motels, and car rentals.  Although it was engineered for the 50 + population, individuals under the age of 50 may also join as associate members and savor many of the benefits enjoyed by seniors.

“We wanted to create a compassionate voice for seniors and offer them great programs to help save their hard earned money,” Weber conveyed on October 23, 2009.  Their rapidly-growing membership clearly illustrates that many have been touched by AMAC’s bold tribute to our country’s founding principles and have fled AARP’s progressive, big-government propagation in favor of a more…well, American option.

Contact AMAC toll free at 1-888-AMAC-006 (1-888-262-2006) or by email at info@amac.us

Originally posted at http://www.girlpundit.com/2009/10/amac-a-conservative-alternative-to-aarp/

It never ceases to amaze me just how terrified the Left is of Sarah Palin.  Today their fear and cowardice hit an all-time high.

On November 17^th, the day that Palin’s Going Rogue: An American Life hits bookstores, a collection of essays about Palin by The Nation’s Lefties-in-Chief, Richard Kim and Betsy Reed—Going Rouge: An American Nightmare—will also hit the shelves.  Kim and Reed’s cover bears a prominent resemblance to Palin’s, darkening the featured bright sky of Going Rogue with lightning and gloomy clouds.  Their book will be released in paperback, and will hence not appear side-by-side with Palin’s in stores.

As a Sarah Palin supporter who has researched both her policies and character extensively, I am so profoundly amused by just how threatened the Left is by her already-declared bestseller and, more importantly, her ability to connect beautifully with everyday Americans across this sea to shining sea.  She didn’t even have to shout “hope” and “change” to make that happen.

Congratulations, Sarah, on still getting under the skin of a vast majority of insecure, elitist, self-righteous lefties simply by virtue of being everything they are not.  However, did I get a mighty laugh out of Kim and Reed’s cry for attention?

YOU BETCHA.

Originally published at http://www.girlpundit.com/2009/10/going-rouge-cause-sarah-palin-still-scares-the-life-out-of-us/

By Jedediah Bila

As I sit editing my novel on this Tuesday, October 13^th of 2009, the distant sound of liberal talk show host Leslie Marshall on the O’Reilly Factor infiltrates my being:  “We lack self control and if the government can help us get a little, I think that’s a good thing.”  WOW.

I have two words for you, Leslie:  personal responsibility.  This country wasn’t founded by people who needed government to tell them when they’d had too much to eat, when they’d talked too much Common Sense, when they’d spent one too many hours on that We the people clause, or when they’d fought a little too hard at Saratoga.  Do I need to remind you what it means to be an American?

I am tired of the far-left preaching to our citizens that they in some way need the crippling…I mean, guiding…assistance of government to make sound decisions that promote their well-being.  Self-control—much like commitment, loyalty, and integrity—should be magnified from within.  The day you need the government to tax your services to kingdom come so that you to stop eating Big Mac’s and sipping Coca-Cola is one sad day indeed.

Originally posted at http://www.girlpundit.com/2009/10/control-yourself/

By Jedediah Bila

Despite growing resistance to the likes of President Obama’s health care agenda and cap-and-tax proposals, America’s Commander-in-Chief continues to champion big government as the healer of economic, social, and political distress.  Although this country has yet to see government-run health care, the more comprehensive notion of government-operated programs is a phenomenon the American people have come to know quite well.  Let’s take a quick peek at the contributions of a handful of U.S. government-run agendas put to action.  I can only assume that, much like our President’s promising discourse with respect to health care, we will unearth an abundance of prosperity and proficiency that the wise, business-savvy hand of government has bestowed upon us feeble-minded citizens…right?

Not quite.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, public school districts in the United States in the fiscal year 2006 spent roughly $9,138 per student, receiving $521.1 billion in federal, state, and local funding.  New York State was the highest recipient, with school district spending per child reaching $14,884.  And yet in June of 2009, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein proudly announced that New York City’s four-year graduation rate climbed to a height—and I adopt that word with an accompanying cringe—of 60.7%, which includes August graduates who must complete supplemental summer work in order to meet requirements.  The percentage excluding August graduates was 56.4%.  Fifty-six percent and the New York City Mayor was glowing?  The fact that it represents an increase from prior years only divulges that our government has been neglecting to do its job for longer than I care to ponder, despite dollar after dollar of hard-earned taxpayer money flooding the bureaucracy.  What’s worse is that the dreadful 56.4% doesn’t account for the vast grade inflation that saturates the system.  Opposition to vouchers and distaste for a free-market style competition among colleagues that would promote a rise to the top of the best and brightest molding the minds of our youth each day, permeate our nation’s government-operated public education giant.  The consequence is an infinite number of teenagers who hold high school diplomas, yet haven’t been provided with even a fragment of the tools they’ll need to succeed in challenging college courses and the cutthroat work force that awaits.

Medicaid, the welfare program birthed in 1965 as a means of providing for the destitute, now cloaks more than forty-six million Americans, including a wide array of the middle class.  Federal Medicaid expenditures were $181.7 billion in 2007.  In addition to staggering spending and the inclusion of individuals the program was in no way designed to accommodate, the system is wrought with calamity, from rationing to government-imposed monthly prescription limits, as it profoundly depletes our state and federal budgets.  Medicare, the once envisioned guardian of our elderly, is operated by the Health Care Financing Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and is virtually bankrupt.  Much like Medicaid, it is a bureaucracy void of personal choice, unless of course you are a retired member of Congress or federal worker, in which case the world is your oyster.  FDR’s government baby, Social Security, has well-surpassed a state of crisis.  David Marotta, author of “Social Security is Still Broken,” offers some fascinating insight:  “Between 2037 and 2075, the Social Security program is projected to run deficits totaling $30 trillion.”  Privatization, in which the contributor would reap the rewards of his or her decisions, fostering personal responsibility, self-sufficiency, and consequence, has been not too surprisingly shot down time and again by big government gurus, who would prefer that your fate lay comfortably in their hands.

President Obama’s standard rhetoric reflects either a supreme naiveté with respect to the efficacy of government-run U.S. programs or, even worse, the notion that he believes himself to be consistently addressing an uninformed, damsel-in-distress audience he can lead by the hand with deceptive “hope and change” style declarations.  Many of us—54% actually, thanks to our dear friend Rasmussen on October 5 of 2009—aren’t buying it.  American history has illustrated, from the tireless ambition of our Founding Fathers to Johnson’s Great Society to Reagan’s unparalleled rebirth of conservatism, what works and what doesn’t.  Government has never and will never be a source of prosperity.  Despite an addictive “opium of entitlements,” an expression coined by Mark Levin to exemplify the handouts that have hypnotized many to the coddling hand of government and bred a dependency into their souls that Thomas Jefferson would shudder to behold, a vast majority of this sea to shining sea is still a nation of builders and soldiers.  We believe in persistence, entrepreneurship, and most of all, in ourselves.  So the next time the President addresses us—this very passionate, very accomplished, very independent conglomerate of patriots—I hope that he will consider the intellect and initiative of his listeners.  Most importantly, if he aspires to a favorable future as the leader of this great country, it may behoove him to put his big government solutions to rest and begin to champion the core tenets of opportunity, self-reliance, personal accountability, and enterprise that birthed the greatest superpower this world may ever know.

Originally posted at http://www.girlpundit.com/2009/10/big-government-small-dreams/

Not only are we not in Kansas anymore, but I think we’ve left the land of rational thought.  You may be wondering right about now if you’ve lost your mind.  You may be sitting back this October afternoon, gazing introspectively ahead as you ponder this week’s news happenings.  “No, it can’t be,” you whisper to yourself as you scratch your head with your right hand and scrunch your brows incredulously.  Sadly, I’m here to tell you you’re not crazy.

My two highlights this week were particularly…how can I say this…unusual. President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize for…um…talking about hope and change.  Michael Moore appeared on Hannity to discuss the evils of capitalism…and then went home to his million dollar Manhattan apartment.  Wait, what?

I know that the world we live in can sometimes seem awfully distressing.  I know that it’s hard to comprehend the outlandish media bias and liberal celebrity hypocrisy when it comes to their own oversaturated wealth and simultaneous insistence that you kick the Constitution to the curb, fork over your wallet to the government, and chant “Yes We Can” like a good little girl or boy.

I invite you in those moments to hold true to your principles, to chuckle at the absurdity of your surroundings, and to focus on the charismatic grassroots movements that terrify those liberal elitists who spend their days and nights trying to rip apart the fabric of this country in an effort to be trendy and popular among their Hollywood and media cohorts.

Remember that your knowledge is your power.  Your patriotism is your badge of courage.  And your disbelief in the state of affairs this week is a clear indication that you are perhaps more sane than you ever realized.

Originally posted at http://www.girlpundit.com/2009/10/welcome-to-the-land-of-oz/