Douglas MacKinnon: Sarah Palin Speaks the Ultimate Truth

With liberty comes responsibility.
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Douglas MacKinnon, who served in the Reagan and Bush41 administrations, argues in a Townhall.com op-ed that if conservatives allow politicians, professors and journalists to persuade us to settle for the lesser of two evils, we not only betray our ideals, but we advance the left's agenda. If we ignore our common sense, all that remains is leftist nonsense:

If you are a conservative or one who does espouse traditional values, then take a good look around. View the decay of compromise which is rotting our cities, our states, our republic, our educational system, and our entertainment community. As you ascertain that which threatens to implode our very way of life, ask yourself a question: What role, if any, did such compromise play in my electoral decisions?

While still mercilessly vilified by the corrupt and themselves compromised members of the mainstream media, former Governor Sarah Palin continues to do her best to speak a very plain truth. A truth and a wake-up call aimed this time squarely at those who would run in the upcoming Republican primaries for President and those who would vote for those candidates.

During a recent interview with Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel, Governor Palin wisely stressed:

"…in this process of assessing, once the lineup is set and the debates begin…we need to look at every one of these potential candidates and declared candidates records. See if they've had opportunity to veto overspending in their city or their state and some governing body. See if they've seized the opportunity to save other people's money and not squander it. See if they've had opportunity to go to the mat in protecting second amendment rights and every constitutional rights. See if they have in their own personal lives lived a physically and socially conservative life and really walked the walk not just talk the talk…We have to do our homework. Don't let the media define who these candidates are. Let us, as constituents, as voters, as potential candidates…do our homework."

Indeed. Governor Palin has just spoken arguably the most important truth. With liberty comes responsibility. All too often, too many of us are content to let someone else do the "homework" for us and then profess shock when the wheels very predictably fly off and our favorite politician, program, or entitlement ends up in a ditch.

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AS MacKinnon's former boss Ronald Reagan advised those gathered for the 1975 edition of CPAC:

"I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party”—when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

[...]

A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.

I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way."

That banner President Reagan spoke of has survived the years. It is not tattered and worn from excessive waving, just neglected and forgotten in some circles within Reagan's political party of choice. Too few have been willing and determined to hold it high in recent years. Sarah Palin is one of the few. Though many so-called Republicans would like to drag the standard through the mud, she will not allow that banner to fall.

- JP