Let’s Get The Party Started !

Rumors of a Republican Party demise were highly exaggerated. Unfortunately, there were several months of political party somberness, excitement waned and people started leaving.
But this party was far from over.

The eternal flame of conservative contention was never fully extinguished. It flickered lightly with diminished brilliance until it was suddenly re-ignited and instantly reinvigorated by the spark of Sarah Palin. And with her nomination, this party has become a phenomenal surprise party, complete with the excitement and anticipation that accompanies united purposes and tremendous possibilities.

When Governor Palin accepted the invitation to become an integral member of this party - she stepped immediately into the conservative heart of this nation. Consequently, the reaction of the DNC was not such a big surprise. Following her entrance onto a national stage, there was swift and immediate backlash, rivaling only the most basic level of elementary school, bullying banter. There are indeed jackals in the den of Democratic iniquity who have already begun a concerted effort to wage a hypocritical and blatantly sexist campaign against her. The Liberals are trying incredibly hard to crash our party because, despite millions of dollars and a shamefully biased media, they have not been able to convince America that they can do anything other than chant and cheer the word ‘change’. They are therefore becoming increasingly bitter as they are forced to cling to the last straw of an ill-conceived concept that the Liberal party somehow garnered a superior value system. Many of the comments about Governor Palin have been unforgivably petty and inappropriately insulting. The Democrats would like you to believe that they are the real party of change. Unfortunately, they lack any real substance to promote change and their ambition cannot reach beyond the reputation of the one man who was selected to recite the word. Therefore, in their collective minds, it cannot be possible that the Republican party could have the audacity to inject a shot of real change into this election.

So herein lies the predicament of the DNC.

How can they safely attack a woman whose value system lies at the very core of middle America? She does not cling to her religion - she has a supreme faith in God. She does not cling to her guns - she respects every aspect of our Constitution, including the intrinsic beauty of the Second Amendment. She is not bitter about America - she is grateful for every opportunity and every challenge that this nation has provided for her. She is the quintessential, anti-Liberal. A person in direct contrast to the Democratic mantra of blaming America for every financial, criminal and environmental woe that exists in the world.

She is a candidate of reform. She believes in holding politicians accountable for their actions or lack thereof. Her focus has been on affecting positive changes without altering the values upon which America was founded over 230 years ago. Unfortunately, if the first response of Liberal leaders is an accurate barometer of things to come, the Democrats will predictably try to undermine her attributes.

They cannot compete intellectually with this kind of politician.
And they want you to be afraid of this kind of change.

Governor Palin has a solid reputation for being someone who expresses her opinions with candidness, openness and honesty. This kind of truthfulness is as foreign a concept to Liberals as saluting our flag or supporting our troops. They just don’t get it.

The only tactic they are left with is a fear tactic. Yes, the Democrats are going to try to scare you. Who is Sarah Palin? She has a funny name. She doesn’t look like all of the other Presidents on the dollar bills.

And did I mention she’s a woman?

When responding to comments on my videos, I very often use the phrase “Keep fighting the good fight,” as part of my closing signature. I have given that phrase a lot of thought this week. What exactly is the good fight? What separates our basic fights from our good fights? In my mind, the good fights are the best fights. The battles not only for the greater good - but for the greatest good. Contrarily, we are forced to fight everyday for some of our most basic goals. But those ‘good fights’ - the most special fights - are always about something bigger than ourselves.

It is clear that Governor Palin understands this notion and so do many other Americans who have fought and continue to fight the good fights, despite a preponderance of limited support or any outward appreciation for their efforts. These fighters are most often the people who know that the world can and does exist beyond their own needs. This world is always going to be a world full of uncertainty and there will always be special needs in it that require us to reach beyond what we thought was possible in order to prove that our best aspirations are indeed achievable.

By virtue of history, every woman in America has been handed the legacy of every other woman who fought the good fights before her. It is our duty as well as our privilege to keep fighting those good fights and to always recognize that a momentary lapse of guard or any general allowance of sexism could impede on the rights of all women and diminish the substantial progress that has been made. The illusion of any acceptable level of sexist commentary will make our future resilience as fragile as the glass ceiling that we have fought so hard to shatter.

During the next few months the resilience of our party will also be tested. When John Mccain proudly announced his choice for Vice President, there was instantaneous but veiled, gender-bashing. Several months ago, Barack Obama began his subtle attacks against Hillary, muttering momentous lines that compared her actions to Annie Oakley, with guns-a-blazing. Unfortunately, his veiled references have already progressed to more severe comments questioning whether a successful female Governor should even be working outside the home when she is the mother of five children. It is truly difficult for me to wrap my brain around the antiquated, blatant sexist individuals who can produce such asinine conjecture. But these people do exist and it is up to us to expose them before they can do any irreparable harm.

Indeed, Democrats are already referring to Sarah Palin as “just a hockey mom, a soccer mom, a PTA mom and a beauty queen” They are mocking her perceived lack of experience and mentioning only that she was the “former mayor of a tiny little town.” They are foregoing her years as a very successful, highly respected, reform based Governor, opting to shift the focus onto the smallest elements on her resume, in an effort to create fear in voters. And while I cannot speak for anyone else, it is those little things on her resume that resonate so deeply with me and cause me to have absolutely no fear of this lady. She willingly and proudly divulges her entire resume as well as her entire personal history.

There are no hidden periods of time in foreign countries. No name changes. No radical affiliations. No socialist agenda is hidden beneath the auspice of becoming a “community organizer”. I am certain that she can and will produce a birth certificate, embossed with a legitimate seal from one of our most splendid 50 states. She can and she will provide beyond a shadow of a doubt, proof that her citizenship is as genuine as her desire to serve this nation.

And I would like to challenge the Democratic Presidential candidate to do the same.

It is disheartening to know that some women are claiming that Governor Palin is merely a “token” female running for a high office without the qualifications of Hillary or the experience of Condoleezza Rice. And because of the unknown variables, the content of this candidate’s character is of premium importance. Just as it is with Barack Obama.

And to this I say, with unequivocal certainty - I genuinely trust and I sincerely like Sarah Palin with as much conviction and certainty as I dislike Barack Obama.

I am however saddened by people of my gender who cannot see past their own insecurities and realize that this is exactly the kind of woman we need in the White House. She is not jaded. She is unabashedly gritty and refreshingly full of grace. She is the eternal “every woman” that we all have known - or we all have been - or we all aspire to become. And I want to believe that somewhere in the depths of my soul, I have at least at one time shown the same perseverance and ability to fight with as much dignity and fortitude whenever I have been confronted with professional or personal challenges.

I feel as though I can personally relate to Sarah Palin on many different levels. Speaking as the adoptive mother of several special needs children - I know what it is like to face personal challenges and to become motivated by a love so deep and consuming that it eventually feels as if it has created its own entity. I also know that there are times when our best efforts can become limited by factors we cannot control. It is at those times that our character is truly defined. When the feeling of helplessness becomes overwhelming, we can arm ourselves with the knowledge that sometimes our best effort is simply the best we can do. We do eventually learn to accept some of the things that we cannot change but we should always continue our fight to change the things that we can. And as long as we are wise enough to understand the difference, we should be fully content with the knowledge that we have truly done our very best.

For any true fighter, quitting is never an option. I have great respect for any person who makes the conscious decision to fight for the greater good. These are the people who are continually making sacrifices along the way and being reluctant to admit that those sacrifices are anything more special or any different than the next person would do. Efforts which are motivated by love are not so much efforts as they are privileges. There is a definable sense of spirit that motivates us. If we can keep moving when we feel like stopping - and we can keep focused when we are feeling overwhelmed - we are indeed capable of fighting the good fights. And it is in this respect that Governor Palin embodies the spirit of all women.

This may be the same kind of spirit that motivated Cindy McCain to adopt a child from Bangladesh or to spearhead an international organization to help children.

It may be the same spirit that resides in mothers who home school their children in order to put their children’s needs before their own.

This spirit can motivate every woman to advance to a higher professional or educational level in order to better provide for her family. It is found in women who need to work two jobs in order to make ends meet or the women who balance work schedules in order to take care of elderly parents.

It is this same spirit that can be found in many of the women who refuse to concede to a physical illness because there are just too many things that need to get done - and they know that they need to do them

It is woven into the words of the dedicated writers who commit the time and energy to blog about personal experiences on the remote chance that it might shed a semblance of light to another person who may be searching for that particular wisdom or insight.

No, Governor Palin cannot and should not separate her job from her family because at the most basic of levels, her desire to keep her children safe begins with the safety of this nation.

So nay-sayers be damned. I am angered that in 2008, we are still bowing to the suggestion that a woman should not take a position of power because it will somehow interfere with her responsibilities to her children. Aside from the fact that this idea will propel women’s rights back 90 years, I am outraged that this type of mindset still exists in a supposedly progressive society. If Sara Palin was a man, her family obligations would never enter into the arena of polite conversation. If she were a man, no one would be questioning her ability to balance a career and a family.

Barack Obama is the father of two small children and he has successfully used his children to humanize and endear himself to the American public. Does his role as a father somehow impede his ability to run for office or perform his professional duties? He has absolutely no experience, and yet he has the audacity to question the qualifications of someone who is aspiring to be elevated to a lesser position than he desires. The Vice Presidency is designed as a learning position, an ingenue position to the Presidency. Governor Palin will learn first-hand every single day from a man who is supremely qualified to lead her - and only after adequate experience is gained, will she explore any aspirations to become President. I would much rather be a passenger in a cart where the horse is expected to lead than to sit idly by as the cart attempts to lead the horse. The person lacking the most experience should not be the person holding the reigns.

In many ways, Sarah Palin is the perfect poster-politician for America. She is a fighter. She is a realist. She has the intelligence to comprehend that there is something to be gained from the wisdom of “every woman” who came before her - and she has the clarity of mind to realize that she is an inspiration to every woman who will follow.

And with her newly appointed leadership role, we can disregard the crumpled wrappers of candy-coated conservatism that once lined the floor. There is no new flavor of political posturing on the horizon for this party. We will not yield to a lesser brand of conservatism - but those of us who understand the importance of this election need to do more than simply attend this party.

Truthfully, the people who felt that most avid sense of disappointment within our party inadvertently became the same people who chose to quietly retreat, never making the connection that their own lack of diligence might have contributed to the party’s atrophy. We cannot afford to wait for someone else to motivate us. This is our time, this is our moment and this is our good fight. Governor Palin has officially turned the lights on and exposed the dispirited faces of those who have chosen to remain stagnant in their missions.

The Republican Party needs its best fighters to win this fight - and quitting is not an option.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden want us to believe that they are a new breed of Democrats who are capable of building a bridge of unity across America. In reality, the current Democratic ticket is determined to build a bridge to nowhere. Luckily, Sarah Palin knows how to handle bridges to nowhere. Thanks - but no thanks.

The Republican Party is alive and well. We are ready to fight the good fight -and we are determined to bring our conservative base back home.

If we need a bridge -
We can build it.