An Open Letter


I've been too kind; after the ugliness of the last election I took to locking my political posts to more reasonable people. As of today, that is over. I've bitten my tongue and taken about as much as I can. In the last week, my friendslist has been awash in insult and hatred. You don't like me anymore? You don't think I'm smart enough to vote? Defriend me, and I'll happily return the favor. I am sick and tired of being called stupid, evil, and unwomanly, just because I do not agree with you. I' m even more tired of seeing the same LIES repeated over and over, ad nauseum. At this point, I can't say that you don't know any better, that you're misinformed, that you're just scared. It's starting to look like a deliberate campaign of misinformation and propaganda. And no, I don't lay the blame at Obama's feet. I don't support his campaign, but even he seems disgusted by the depths to which his supporters have sunk in attacking this woman.

Item 1: Sarah Palin is both feminist and pro-life. These positions are not incompatible, indeed, if you believe in equal rights for all women, then that should extend to support the rights of all women to be born in the first place. Feminism is not a single issue position, and it should not be defined by one's willingness to kill.

Item 2: Sarah Palin is not a creationist, and she never tried to put Intelligent Design in public schools. She DID say that academic debate and discussion of the issue was healthy for students, a position I personally think no reasonable individual can disagree with.

Item 3: Sarah Palin accepts that climate change is happening, but questions whether that change is anthropogenic in nature. This position is shared by many reputable scientists in the field. On this subject, she and McCain have "agreed to disagree" in a perfectly civil fashion.

Item 4: She did not try to take sex-ed out of the public schools. She does not support extremely explicit sex ed programs, but neither is she an 'abstinence only' education supporter.

Item 5: Sarah Palin never tried to ban any books. She did fire a librarian as part of a widespread replacement of officials from the administration before her. She also rehired said librarian the following day. As to the book banning, she asked the librarian, theoretically, how she would react if asked to ban books. From this exchange it is impossible to determine that she wanted to ban anything; it is equally as likely she was attempting to ascertain whether the woman was fit to do her job.

Item 6: She owns guns, and she hunts. She supports the rights of people to defend themselves against dangerous predators. If this offends you, so be it. I suggest you move to Alaska and make friends with the bears and the wolves.

Item 7: She does not hate gay people. She supports traditional marriage, but she also vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to same sex partners of government employees. From this I would ascertain that she is willing to fight on the side of the constitution, even when it conflicts with her religious beliefs.

Item 8: She never told her church that her son was involved in a holy war. She cited Abraham Lincoln in that we should not hope that God is on OUR side, but rather we should strive to always be on GOD'S side. Gibson claimed he cited her "exact words" in his spurious quotation. They were anything but, as she tried to tell him.

In other news, her children are all hers, biologically, and she apparently loves them all and views none as a burden. She didn't have an affair with her husband's business partner, she's not forcing her daughter to give birth or marry, the trooper she had fired was fired for cause, she supports drilling for our own oil, and funding for new energy technologies, and the Bush Doctrine is a compendium of policies and thus she was right to ask Gibson to which one he referred.

So far, I've seen one legitimate complaint against Palin, and that is that she has no foreign policy experience. The same may be said of many Presidents and Vice-Presidents past. It may also be said of Barack Obama. Considering the only way to acquire said experience is by becoming part of the entrenched Washington elite, I don't think that a lack of it should preclude any candidate from consideration.


In short? I agree with nearly all of her positions; she is more in line with my views than McCain is. She enables me to vote for him with a clear conscience and unbridled enthusiasm. I am not only happy about his choice of running mate, I am ecstatic, and very proud to support their campaign.