TWENTY-SIX

"I don't remember my ten-year-old friends being
especially interested in who the president was,
but to me it was a pretty big deal."

On p. 26 of Going Rogue Sarah continues the discussion of Watergate and its aftermath that she has commenced on the previous page. Then she makes the following fascinating remark:

"Looking back, it seems significant that many of my clearest childhood memories involve politics and current events. I don't remember my ten-year-old friends being especially interested in who the president was, but to me it was a pretty big deal."

Surely, in the first place, it is part of that Liberty that is one of God's greatest gifts to us, that Liberty for which Sarah and her fellow patriots are now laboring and fighting, it is part of this Liberty that, as we can and do reflect back on our past lives, so we are free to choose our future steps and actions. What we will do in the future is formed and founded, to a great extent, on our recalling of the past.

Good counsels given, good examples witnessed, good actions taken, on the one hand, that is, things to be followed and repeated, rise up as friendly specters from bygone days, exhorting us to follow and pursue similar paths of courage and of virtue.

Poor choices, on the other hand, that we or others made in the past arise in our memories as sentinels of warning, admonishing us, "Choose not this path again; you can do better!!" Liberty and Memory are closely linked!!!!

Just as the traditions of a country, what we might term its "National Memory," constitute the assurance of its corporate continuity, if they are faithfully preserved, so the interior "traditions" of an individual, his or her memories, if they are recalled and cultivated, can assure the moral continuity of that man or woman.

So, do the memories that Sarah recounts here fall under either category, that is, sequenda, "things to be followed," or vitanda, "things to be avoided"? No. I think that there is a third category of memories (besides that of things that are simply pleasurable or painful to recall, without containing any moral implications).

This third category encompasses circumstances or events that were little understood or comprehended at the time they came to pass, but whose import and implications become clearer with Time's mighty, all-revealing passage! We may call them perscrutanda, "things that must be deeply pondered/examined."

When Sarah was ten years old, she probably did not know why she was fascinated with politics in general and with the Presidency in particular.

As she grew up, she probably still did not fully know the answer to this question.

Now, however, now as she reflects and ruminates on those far-off days, the thought very likely occurs: Someone placed these interests and inclinations in me! What might His Purpose have been?

We all ardently hope that Sarah will be our next President. However, only she, in conjunction with the Lord (prayer) and her family, can make the decision to run or not to run.

However, it is just possible that her reflections back on her interests as a ten-year-old will cause her to ask, "WHY, oh WHY, did I, as a mere ten-year-old, have this persistent interest in politics, in current events, in the welfare of my country, in the Presidency?"

Let us pray constantly for her that she make the best decision in this matter (as only the Lord knows it): best for herself, best for her family, best for Alaska, best for the United States of America.

Dearest Sarah, we stand with you, whatever you decide to do. God bless you always!!!


Read It For Yourself:

Other Great Sarah Books:

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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