Paul Heise: Palin committed to gospel of Reagan

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Economics professor Paul Heise has read Going Rougue, and his conclusion is that "Sarah Palin believes that she has a mission from God to channel Ronald Reagan and his conservative message." In a Lebanon Daily News op-ed, Professor Heise writes:

It can hardly be a coincidence that An American Life is also the title of Ronald Reagan's own autobiography. Palin is presumptuous enough to put her American life and her book right up there on the pedestal with Reagan's. But she should have at least noted the use of the title of Reagan's book, just to avoid the charge of plagiarism. If it is a coincidence, she would claim it is just the hand of providence at work. As she says "I don't believe in coincidences."

But the good professor overlooks the fact that "An American Life" is a popular subtitle not limited to the two volumes by President Reagan and Governor Palin. There are any number of biographies, among them Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), Patricia Brady's Martha Washington: An American Life (2005), David Cannadine's Mellon: An American Life (2006), Elisabeth Bumiller's Condoleezza Rice: An American Life (2007), James Dodson's Ben Hogan: An American Life (2005), Kate Buford's Burt Lancaster: An American Life (2001), and Blair Jackson's Garcia: An American Life, just to name a baker's half dozen. On the autobiography shelf, you'll find Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life by John Adams (the contemporary composer, not the founding father) from 2008. There's even an ode to a musical instrument titled Guitar - An American Life by NPR commentator Tim Brookes.

Singling out Sarah Palin, labeling her as "presumptuous" and claiming that she puts her own memoir "right up there on the pedestal with Reagan's" autobiography is just professorial nonsense. Gov. Palin has frequently attributed Ronald Reagan, in her book, in op-eds and in speeches, so Helms' lecturing her for not noting Reagan's title in her book strikes us as petty and foolish. Should she have also noted the authors of biographies of founders, financial moguls, guitars and guitarists in her book for their similar subtitles? Of course not. This bit of academic foolishness dispensed with, let's get back to Heise's analysis:

The connection between Palin's God and Reagan's agenda is quite explicit. She says, "I believed - and still do - that every person has a destiny, a reason for being. So Reagan's sense of national purpose resonated with me."

She ties her reason for being to his sense of national purpose.

The professor jumps to another off-the-wall conclusion when he states:

Note that Palin's religion is not what we think of as Christian. There is no reference to Christianity in the references to God in the book. There is no sin, suffer and repent; no hell-fire and damnation or heavenly reward; no Jesus is Lord. This is strange because that is the tradition in which she was raised.

Just because the governor doesn't talk about Christ in her book is no reason for Heise to assume that her religion is not Christianity. Considering the attacks leveled at Sarah Palin by the secular left intended to paint her as some kind of fundamentalist zealot, we're not at all surprised that she would want to discuss her faith in terms that could be understood by a broad base of Christians, Jews and even some non-believers. Sarah Palin is no deist. She does not shy away from talking about her relationship with the Lord, but neither does she see any need to give more ammunition to her secularist critics by footnoting each and every article of her religion. That she has accepted Christ as her Savior, we have no doubt. Though she freely acknowledges how her faith has guided her life, she sees the task before her as one of spreading the philosophy of Ronald Reagan, not that of being a missionary for any religious denomination. As the professor notes:

Palin does not preach in the common sense of that word. She does not proselytize nor try to convince others to follow her and her commitment. However, Palin's religion is not passive. There is a call to God-directed action. We are supposed to go through the doors of opportunity that providence opens for us.

What she does preach is that those doors of opportunity are opened by individual initiative and the market system. They are opened by implementing and sticking to the commonsense conservatism of Reagan.

Throughout the book, Palin endlessly repeats, and blatantly preaches, the Reagan mantra of rugged individualism, free-market economics and a strong national defense. Her faith in Reagan and his policies is akin to her faith in God.

At the end of the book and after losing the election, Palin ends with the prayer and comment: "God, thank you. Thank you for your faithfulness ... always seeing us through. ... I don't know if this chapter is ending or just beginning, but you do, so I hand it over to you again. Thanks for letting me do that. ... Then I thank our Lord for every single thing we've been through that year. I believed there was purpose in it all."

That purpose is to spread the gospel of Ronald Reagan.

The full Paul Heise opinion piece can be digested here.

- JP