The Libertarian Case for Palin

Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi has written a great article about Sarah Palin.

Sarah PalinCulturally, there is little for the Heartland to dislike. By now, you’ve probably seen picture or two of Palin sporting a rifle. Apparently, she’s left carcasses strewn across the Alaskan wilderness. In some places — areas where the nation is growing — owning a gun is not yet a sin. And unlike Obama, Palin seems to believe that the Second Amendment means the exact same thing in rural Alaska as it does in the streets of Chicago.

Yes, Palin is without argument a staunch social conservative. She is fervently opposed to abortion - even in cases of rape and incest, which will raise eyebrows, but is certainly more philosophically consistent than the namby pambyism of your average politician. The choice issue, after all, is complicated, even for many libertarians. And, as I was recently reminded, Ron Paul, the Libertarian champion of the 21st century, also opposes abortion.

Even when advocating for “moral” issues, Palin’s approach is a soft sell. Palin does not support gay marriage (neither does Obama, it should be noted). Yet, in 2006, Palin’s first veto as Governor was a bill that sought to block state employee benefits and health insurance for same-sex couples.

We cannot bore into Palin’s soul to see her true feelings about gay couples, but, at the time, she noted that signing “this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office” because it was unconstitutional. For most libertarians, the thought of politician following any constitution, rather than their own predilections, morality or the “common good,” is a nice change of pace.

A nice change of pace indeed.

Andrew Riley is an idealist, a dreamer, and occasionally a real son-of-a-bitch. He spends his days webmastering this blog, writing for this blog, and more importantly filling his four year old son's head with silly nonsense. He is an Army veteran, a conservative Libertarian, and gets bored with most people pretty quickly. 4 out of 5 dentists agree that he is way cooler than you.
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