TWENTY-ONE

Chuck Heath points out some of his teaching tools.


I would like to focus and concentrate on the following words, which Sarah "pens" at the top of p. 21 of Going Rogue.

They are written about her dad; and, like so much which this remarkable...nay, miraculous (how the Left will froth at this!), lady writes about her father, the words are redolent of and resonate with the limpid, lovely, eternally "green," in the best sense of this much-abused epithet, eternally green and youthful beauty of filial piety, of honor, of recognition and love rendered by a grateful daughter to a staunch and stalwart progenitor!!

Sarah says (the context is the high-paying jobs in the oil industry that became available in Alaska during the 70's):

"...But he [her dad] loved teaching and he loved his students, so he chose making a difference in kids' lives over making money."

Guys, I think these extraordinary words provide a perfect opening and stage for some remarks about the power of and the limitations of pecunia, dinero, money.

There is a Spanish saying, "Un poderoso caballero es Don Dinero," "A mighty gentleman is Mister Money"!!!--mighty, but not all-mighty!!

I think that OUR SIDE has and holds the perfect equilibrium and balance in regard to MONEY.

The Left pretends not to care about money: Oh, these pious and hypocritical bastards are so concerned about the "environment," about "human rights," about "liberalism."

In fact, if one examines the actual way in which these cowardly, benighted creatures live their lives, one will find that they will do anything to secure tenure (and lifelong security) in a university; anything to secure a grant from a left-wing foundation; anything to advance their own power and prestige. While professing to despise money and power, they in fact worship these entities.

Our side, on the contrary, is made up of and composed of supreme REALISTS. We know, as did our Founding Fathers, that humankind is driven, to a great extent, by the normal and natural desire to get ahead; to swell our own coffers; to advance our own interests. Yet, we know that there is one thing higher than money: The Lord--and actions inspired by the Lord!!

Money can buy influence;

Money can buy "friends";

Money can, sometimes, buy elections;

Money can buy advancement in industry and in government;

Money can buy personal pleasure, prestige, and satisfactions;

However,

Money cannot turn back the advance of a malignant cancer;

Money cannot turn back a storm like Katrina;

Money cannot avert disasters like the Gulf oil spill;

Money cannot stop earthquakes;

Money cannot block the radiation flowing from a nuclear bomb;

Money cannot buy and purchase us one more minute or second or instant upon this Earth than the times and measures and modes defined and marked out for us by the LORD of TIMES and PURPOSES!!!

Further...

Money cannot buy the matchless courage and gallantry of a young soldier or Marine who throws him/herself on a grenade, for example, to save fellow soldiers, companions-in-arms.

MONEY CAN NEVER, COULD NEVER, BUY A SARAH PALIN, A LADY OF PEERLESS AND MATCHLESS BEAUTY OF SOUL AND INTEGRITY OF SPIRIT, WHO IS WILLING TO PUT HER WHOLE BEING AND LIFE ON THE LINE FOR THE LIFE OF HER COUNTRY AND FOR THE LIFE OF HER COUNTRYMEN/WOMEN.....YES, FOR US!!!.

God is First.

Family (and Friends), States, Country are Second.

Money, Powerful, but not All-Powerful, Money, is Third.

So let us bless and honor Chuck Heath always; honor him who chose a nobler and loftier calling than that of the MERE compilation of wealth, and, as a result, inspired and impelled his remarkable, indeed unique, daughter on the path and road that will lead, God willing, to both spiritual and economic success and prosperity and triumph for us all, for all of America!!


Read It For Yourself:

Read It For Yourself:

Other Great Sarah Books:

Other Great Sarah Books:

Palin Essentials:

Palin Essentials:

Credits:

All sidebar photos are from Wikimedia. I have tried to post all royalty-free images or to get permission, but in a few cases I could not locate the original source of a photograph or find a way to ask permission.


Contact info: bbrianus@gmail.com.

Other Great Going Rogue Reviews:

Jedediah Bila:

"Palin’s inviting first-person narration that is sometimes whimsical, often confident, and always patriotic...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."
John Ziegler:

"I was simply blown away by Going Rogue on almost every level. For many reasons, this is by far the best book and greatest literary achievement by a political figure in my lifetime..."
Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata:
"Her book washes away all doubts that any reader might have had about her readiness to be president. She comes across as exceptionally bright, dedicated, and passionate about public service. Her moral compass is strong, pointing true North in this case. And she has a wicked sense of humor."
Don Surber:
"Conservatives know why Palin is still standing — and standing taller today than those who tried to bring her down. What does not kill you makes you stronger. Thank you, Tina Fey."

Sarah Palin is Coming to Town

Review by Stanley Fish:

When I walked into the Strand Bookstore in Manhattan last week, I headed straight for the bright young thing who wore an “Ask Me” button, and asked her to point me to the section of the store where I might find Sarah Palin’s memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life.” She looked at me as if I had requested a copy of “Mein Kampf” signed in blood by the author....

A few days later...I had begun reading Palin’s book, and while I wouldn’t count myself a fan in the sense of being a supporter, I found it compelling and very well done....

First, the art. The book has an architectonic structure that is built around a single moment, the moment when Palin receives a call from John McCain inviting her to be the vice-presidential candidate of the Republican party. When we first hear about the call it is as much a surprise to us as it was (at least as reported) to her, because for six pages she has been recounting a wonderful family outing at the Alaska State Fair. When her phone rings, she hopes it might be a call from her son Track, a soldier soon to deploy to Iraq, but “it was Senator John McCain asking if I wanted to help him change history.”

And that’s the last we hear of it for 200 pages. In between we hear a lot about Wasilla, high school, basketball, college, marriage, children, Down syndrome, Alaska politics, the environment, a daughter’s pregnancy. The re-entry of John McCain into the narrative on page 208 introduces Palin’s account of the presidential campaign and its aftermath, especially her decision to resign the governorship before the end of her term....

Paradoxically, the effect of the neatly spaced references to the call is to de-emphasize it as a dramatic moment. It is presented not as a climax, but as an interruption of matters more central to Palin’s abiding concerns — her family, Alaska’s prosperity, energy policy. (She loves to rehearse the kind of wonkish details we associate with Hillary Clinton, whom she admires.)

Indeed, it is a feature of this narrative that events we might have expected to be foregrounded are elided or passed over. Palin introduced herself to the nation with a powerful, electrifying speech accepting McCain’s invitation to join the ticket. It gets half a sentence (“I gave my speech”)....

The only event that receives an extended discussion is her resignation. It is important to her because as an act it reflects on her integrity, and she has to be sure (as she eventually was) that she was doing it for the right reasons.

Resigning was a moral act for which she was responsible. The vice-presidential candidacy just happened to her; her account of it reads like an extended “what-I-did-on-my summer-and fall-vacation” essay.

For many politicians, family life is sandwiched in between long hours in public service. Palin wants us to know that for her it is the reverse. Political success is an accident that says nothing about you. Success as a wife, mother and citizen says everything...

I find the voice undeniably authentic...It is the voice of small-town America, with its folk wisdom, regional pride, common sense, distrust of rhetoric (itself a rhetorical trope), love of country and instinctive (not doctrinal) piety.

It says, here are some of the great things that have happened to me, but they are not what makes my life great and American. (“An American life is an extraordinary life.”) It says, don’t you agree with me that family, freedom and the beauties of nature are what sustain us?

And it also says, vote for me next time. For it is the voice of a politician, of the little girl who thought she could fly, tried it, scraped her knees, dusted herself off and “kept walking.”

In the end, perseverance, the ability to absorb defeat without falling into defeatism, is the key to Palin’s character. It’s what makes her run in both senses of the word and it is no accident that the physical act of running is throughout the book the metaphor for joy and real life. Her handlers in the McCain campaign wouldn’t let her run (a mistake, I think, even at the level of photo-op), no doubt because they feared another opportunity to go “off script,” to “go rogue.”

But run she does (and falls, but so what?), and when it is all over and she has lost the vice presidency and resigned the governorship, she goes on a long run and rehearses in her mind the eventful year she has chronicled. And as she runs, she achieves equilibrium and hope: “We’ve been through amazing days, and really, there wasn’t one thing to complain about. I feel such freedom, such hope, such thankfulness for our country, a place where nothing is hopeless.”

The message is clear. America can’t be stopped. I can’t be stopped. I’ve stumbled and fallen, but I always get up and run again. Her political opponents, especially those who dismissed Ronald Reagan before he was elected, should take note. Wherever you are, you better watch out. Sarah Palin is coming to town.

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