Politics

It has been a great week to read since I've been on vacation, and it's raining! I finished this one today. I have to say for the record, that I really love Sarah Palin! She is conservative and tough with solid Christian values that she is not afraid to talk about. I love the fact that she prays about every decision she makes, and really, truly has a public servant's attitude putting the people first over government. The stories along the campaign trail are very insightful and explain a lot of the media criticism that has plagued her, even to this day. And the Piper stories are very funny and cute! The whole book was really inspirational and heartwarming. Here's one of my favorite sections:

"I am a conservative because I deal with the world as it is- complicated and beautiful, tragic and hopeful. I am a conservative because I believe in the rights and the responsibilities and inherent dignity of the individual. In his book 'A Conflict of Visions', Thomas Sowell explains the underlying assumptions or 'visions' that shape our opinions and the way we approach social and political issues. He identifies two separate visions: the unconstrained and the constrained. People who adhere to the unconstrained vison (the label applied to them is 'liberal' or 'left-wing') believe that human nature is changeable (therefore perfectible) and that society's problems can all be solved if only the poor, ignorant, disorganized public is told what to do and rational plans are enacted. And who better to make those plans than an elite bureaucracy pulling the strings and organizing society according to their master blueprint? No one can doubt that our current leaders in Washington subscribe to this unconstrained vision. Conservatives believe in the 'constrained' political vision because we know human nature is flawed and that there are limitations to what can be done in Washington to 'fix' society's problems. Commonsense Conservatives deal with human nature as it is- with its unavoidable weaknesses and its potential for goodness. We see the world as it is- imperfect but filled with beauty. We hope for the best. We believe people can change for the better, but we do not ignore history's lessons and waste time chasing utopian pipe dreams. We don't trust utopian promises from politicians. The role of government in a civil society is to protect the individual and to establish a social contract so that we can live together in peace."