Politicians who polarize themselves and their constituents are always doomed to failure. Politics (at least in the United States) is about working with others and compromising, no matter how much one might dislike their opponents. That being said, we must always question those in power and look for ways to improve.
Take Sarah Palin, current Fox News analyst and former vice presidential candidate, who at a recent Tea Party convention asked people “how’s that ‘hopey-changey’ stuff workin’ out for ya?”
Right. Like that. Sort of.
Maybe you could pinpoint some particular issues or offer some actual advice instead of the broad, overarching “stuff.” Maybe you could use something that sounds a little more intelligent and poignant than “hopey-changey.” But the basic premise is good. I guess.
Or take her recent trip to Searchlight, Nev. The small Nevada community is the hometown of Senate majority leader Harry Reid, who has been coming under fire for his dramatic support of the health care bill. Nevada, a typically moderate state, has been voicing concern over big government while they face double-digit unemployment rates. Said Palin to a thousand or so supporters in the small mining town, Reid is “gambling away our future” and “Somebody needs to tell him this is not a crapshoot.”
That’s a little better. Although the use of “gambling” and “crapshoot” in the only state that legally allows the actions seems a little forced. Also, there is Reid’s response to the matter.
“I’m happy so many people came to see my hometown of Searchlight and spend their out-of-state money, especially in these tough economic times,” Reid said. He followed this statement with “this election will be decided by Nevadans, not people from other states who parachuted in for one day to have a tea party.”
Ouch.
OK, OK, but Palin has more ammo than that. Literally. Take her Facebook page where she posted a map of 20 Democrat-held districts with crosshairs over them, complete with a tweet that said, “Don’t retreat, Instead — RELOAD!”
Wait, seriously?
What it comes down to is this: Sarah Palin is frightening. After being pulled from relative obscurity as the governor of Alaska in the last presidential election, Palin has become the face of the conservative movement. She wrote a book, she appears at speeches, she was forced to resign from her governor position when a scandal broke out, but who’s keeping score? She plans to make a run at the 2012 elections, and the fact that she believes she has a chance is what is truly frightening.
As a conservative, Palin is opposed to government-provided health care. Fine. But the way she described what governmental health care reform would mean for Americans, that “any group of government bureaucrats that makes decisions affecting life or death is essentially a ‘death panel’” has been so thoroughly denounced and considered slanderous by politicians and journalists alike, it has earned the coveted honor of “the lie of the year” given out by PolitiFact, which, by the way, won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2009.
So what is Palin doing?
Well, as the title of this piece suggests, Palin is flailing. And it isn’t just her. In fact, the entire Republican party is flailing, largely because they hold a minority in both houses of congress and hold no sway in the White House. Currently, their political power is severely limited. However, come November of this year, when mid-term elections are going to be held, that is going to change. But because of the polarizing stance taken by Republicans, it is not going to change as much as it could.
When politicians take on radical views, they alienate the largest basis of their constituency, or those who are relatively moderate. Calling for voters to “reload” and claiming health care will set up “death panels” is going to do nothing more than scare moderate voters away from the Republican agenda. If they simply held to the basic conservative ideals of small government, lower taxes and fiscal conservation, they would do very well in the coming elections. However, many Republicans seem to be drifting even further to the right, calling Obama a socialist (for providing something every other industrialized country in the world has: government-provided health care) and supporting far right movements like the Tea Party, which is backed by extreme right members like Rush Limbaugh and former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo, who said “People who could not even spell the word ‘vote’ or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House … his name is Barack Hussein Obama.”
Moderate Republicans should make it clear to distance themselves from Palin, or else they risk the all important midterm elections this year. She is doing much more than “going rogue.” She is making herself look like a fool, and this rubs off on any of those who support her. If Republicans continue to support this radical right-wing, lipstick-wearing, “pit bull” hockey mom, they could find themselves in a similar situation as they are in now — powerless.
Quit flailin’, Sarah.
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