I grew up in the liberally elite state of Connecticut, inundated with yacht clubs, country clubs, and various people suffering from the chronic condition of cranial rectal disorder. Connecticut was a cross between the cinematic masterpieces of Pretty in Pink, Mean Girls, and the Stepford wives. I never lived on the right side of the tracks, like Molly Ringwald, was never popular, nor did I want to conform to the rest of the “wives” living in the neighborhood. I was dead set to go against the grain, remaining true to my morals and beliefs. Growing up in Connecticut allowed me to see the superficial hollowness that becomes so prevalent in elite society.

To this day I’m still incredibly surprised that I made it out of that state with a wonderful education that didn’t turn me into a raging liberal, just a mild one. I was also fortunate enough to have a couple of teachers who had a significant impact on my life. I remember camping in the woods during a high school elective English class, studying poetry by Robert Frost, reading about Henry David Thoreau, analyzing short stories and human nature. Our opinions were never formulated for us, rather our teacher continuously asked questions of us when describing our own personal interpretation of what we had read or experienced. Through my experiences I became enamored by the human condition and sought to read literature that provided deeper insight into our humanness. One flattering moment, that should have clued me in, came later in the evening my Sophomore year in High School, where my English teacher called my Mother to let her know that he had never met anybody at such a young age who was so sensitive to the outside world and who was as insightful as friends of his in their early 60’s. As great as that moment was, there is only so much one can learn from books and listening to what others have to say, the greatest learning experience for me was real life.

I went onto college in Virginia, originally hoping to play soccer at a DII or DIII school, but “fell for” a larger one in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley; James Madison University. I tried out for the club soccer team, because there was too much I would miss, if I weren’t playing a team sport. I had a competitive edge, a drive, and a determination that needed to be squelched, and soccer was my outlet. As I studied and did well in school, I felt a deep nagging within me. There was something different, something missing, but within my first two years at JMU I wasn’t able to put my finger on it.

The first time I was able to vote, I was a Sophomore in college, leave it to a Utopian seeking, one-issue voter, who doesn’t know any better, to cast their ballot for Al Gore – believe me I’m still making amends for it today.

The second half of that year I spent a semester living abroad. I lived in Spain with a family for close to four months, unable to speak English with them, only the group of 25 that I went with. I was always an independent young woman – I was the only one from my high school graduating class to go to my college and didn’t know anybody when I left for Europe. I was immersed in a completely different culture, and don’t get me wrong, I had fun, probably too much fun, but I began becoming homesick more often than not. I started to realize what it was I had taken for granted in the United States, like having a computer in my dorm room. In Spain I had to walk a mile or so to an Internet café and pay to use an Internet connection that sometimes would not work. I had a roommate and our beds were so close together that I could reach my hand towards her and touch her arm. Showers could only be taken every other day and my jeans were always stiff after they came out of the wash, as if a box of starch was dumped on them. I lived on a small narrow floor in a tiny flat with 5 other people, no TV, no phone calls, unless they were made in the street via a payphone, and we couldn’t leave lights on for long periods of time. I took classes that were in a different language, had my wallet stolen, and stayed up all hours of the night. I slowly became more patriotic, even if it was very subtle.

I was a junior in college on 9/11. I had just gotten out of the shower and was eating breakfast with my roommates getting ready to drive over to campus for our early economics class. My hair was still wrapped in a towel when we sat on our couches watching the planes fly into the two towers and the pentagon. We screamed as the first tower came crashing to the ground, soon followed by the second. I tried to call my Mother to find out if anyone we knew or any family members working on Wall Street were injured, or worse yet, killed in the attack. I also needed to find out if she was ok. My mother worked in the Pentagon from time-to-time when on business travel to DC. All phone lines were busy and the only people we were left with were each other. That day was solemn, we wandered around like zombies, silent for hours, until it broke and the waters came cascading through. I bonded with people I never had contact with, or those whom never interested me as friends. Life had changed forever in that moment, that day, that year.

The problem that surfaces is our apathetic nature, our requirement for immediate gratification and results. The War on Terror dragged on and many forgot 9/11 – including myself. It’s not that I wasn’t patriotic and more so than I was previously, but that I became so consumed with me.

I graduated from college with a 3.58 GPA, which got me to Cum Laude status. I would be taking home a degree in International business, finance and a minor in Spanish. I just wasn’t taking a degree in humility, character, and a minor in honesty, home with me.

I left Virginia and headed to Baltimore for a job in the Defense Industry. Through my encounters with real war heroes and patriots, I was able to ascertain what it means to believe and fight for the constitution and the country. I tended to be a sponge of sorts when it came to one-on-one encounters; taking in not only my own experiences, but also others, and using them to form my opinions on life. My opinions started to change, however, I still didn’t know all that much about politics besides what my coworkers and boyfriend would tell me.

It was during this time in my early 20s that I faced some of the biggest struggles of my young life. What wasn’t mentioned above was the fact that I had an Irish curse, but unfortunately had no Irish ancestry. My life was clouded by drinking and partaking in things I was taught not to do. I lived to excess and became a belligerent, miserable human being. There came a point in time where my boyfriend of two years couldn’t deal with me, my family had cut me off, my job was in jeopardy, and I had several falling-outs with close friends. I was the most self-centered, egotistical, victim that walked the face of the earth. And I was alone in the world. I hit rock bottom… I looked into a mirror for the first time in years and scared myself to death. There was nothing looking back at me, just emptiness.

Something happens to an individual when she is left alone to look inside herself. After years of running from who I really was, and after years of blaming all my problems on everyone around me, I realized that I was the only common denominator in all them. I spent two years reading a book that was quite large and had a bluish tint. I spent two years being told to sit down, shut up, take the cotton out of my ears, and put it in my mouth from “old timers.” I knew the value of tough love, and the value of taking an inventory, following principles, traditions, and realizing that most of my problems can summarily be pinned on one thing: ME.

I, as much as I hated it, did not have control over everything. God, a power greater than myself, was the captain of the ship I had boarded. I had free will to roam around the vessel and make decisions upon which course I attempted to traverse, but ultimately the current was God’s. I had finally found faith, and the above-mentioned feeling of absence was just a gaping hole inside of me that just so happened to fit God perfectly.

Through a life changing process I was able to see the significance of common sense and logic. I had learned the definition of insanity a long time ago: “Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.” What applies in our own personal lives, whether it’s attempting to relieve debt by creating more debt, or just repeating the same habits over again, hoping for a different outcome, all equates to insanity, and quite frankly makes no sense. In essence, I had lifted myself up by my bootstraps, been raised from the dead, and suddenly taken from the scrap heap of life to something better than I had known. I live life by two mottos: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.” ~ The Little Prince; “My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character, which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.” ~ Bill W.

It has become harder to relate to friends my age who have never traveled outside the country, let alone their state. It’s harder conversing or debating with those who have never lived in an inner city seeing liberal philosophy play out first hand. It’s harder still finding common ground with those who have never known what it is like to suffer and overcome adversity, and recognize the value of life, and those intangible elements that fulfill each little moment of every day.

There is more to life than college degrees, great grades, titles, money, power, material goods, or using empty rhetoric well when staring at a teleprompter. I tend to believe that intellect may come from books and theories, but wisdom comes from life experience. Wisdom far outweighs intellect on any given day. I have come to realize in the last few years, that my personal strife and success has awakened me to things I would have been forever blinded to otherwise.

I believe that our values shape our political ideologies. What is important to me in life shapes how I view the outside world, and those aspects of life and people that I deem most important.

Values and traditions are imperative for a fruitful society and many of those traditions run in tandem with our morals and principals. This is why the constitution needs to be upheld; not merely because of the blood, sweat, and tears of our founding fathers, although that should be enough, but because it’s what made this country great in the first place. As they say, “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke.” The Constitution was a lessons’ learned document much like businesses have standard operating procedures to make companies as efficient as possible. Our founding fathers knew what they didn’t want after experiencing a soft tyranny first hand. They knew that by making a government less centralized and more federalized that constituents could be better represented. The founding fathers also felt that members of congress should hold real life jobs while working in the capitol so they would not lose sight of their peoples’ concerns and hardships. Sadly, our country continues to move further and further away from the true intentions of our founding documents. Lobbyists, special interests, “too-big-to-fail” corporations, media, political power, and elitism seep through the pores of our nation’s face, and there is no honest dermatologist in sight!

I am a skeptic of the highest order, and that is why I don’t give credence to either party. Both are as progressive and as power hungry as the other. I simply want regular people to wake up and realize who is supposed to be in charge, and who knows, maybe there is one honest politician on the horizon? One can hope.

Common sense tells me that staying true to the Constitution will make this country tick, that keeping firearms is not about hunting, but about defending freedom and liberty, that using our own natural resources and nuclear power would make us energy independent much faster than alternative energy for a propagandized crisis that is non-existent in reality. Common sense tells me that spending your way out of debt does not work, that saving, scrimping, and being fiscally responsible is what we should be doing in our own lives, so why not the government? Common sense tells me that tax cuts and supply side economics make sense during a recession to relieve economic woes, and that trying to fix the symptoms rather than the underlying disease will make the patient sicker. Common sense tells me that universal healthcare does not work, and there is no such thing as a free lunch, that cap and trade is just a power grab that will destroy many of our still thriving industries like coal, that big government equals big corruption, and that immigrants should come in the right and legal way, much like our ancestors. Common sense tells me much, much more, but I could go on forever about the many issues that I see emanating from Washington, D.C.

D.C. is making decisions for future generations and each and every American, rather than giving us that choice. It kills me to know that so many my age cannot see what’s coming, nor do they care. I have spent too much of my life pointing my finger blaming people for my wrongdoings and feeling entitled. I care more about individuals and the content of character, rather than the color of one’s skin, their religion, or ethnicity. If we were all created equal why don’t we start acting like it? It’s time to wean ourselves off the government dope that the bureaucrats continue to push. I would prefer to change my own diapers than have a nanny state change them for me.

The people of the United States are the only arbiters of change. It is up to us, as a society of regular folks to affect those around us and take up a cause that puts our country back on the right track. It’s time to stand up and be counted, it’s time to bring common sense back to Capitol Hill, and it’s time to put country before ourselves.

I am a 27 year-old conservative, and a federalist; I’m a believer in the constitution, liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness, not the pursuit of a sub-prime loan. I’m a believer in honesty, integrity, and character, and above all else, I’m a believer in the American people.

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” ~ Helen Keller

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Looking back on Independence Day weekend, I am reminded of everything our Founding Fathers fought for.  I recently read Glenn Beck’s Common Sense and was blown away  not only by the parallels between now and then but, also by the sheer lack of logic in DC over the past couple of decades.

America suffered from benign neglect and soft tyranny prior to the American Revolution.  Our Founding Fathers were tired of taxation without representation and the obvious sentiment of the English King/government who only cared about padding his pockets and increasing his power, not the people he supposedly represented.

An underground movement began and there was no single leader, but several who were all involved in the name of freedom, liberty, and justice for all.  They sacrificed life and limb to do what’s right for America and her citizens.

While celebrating our independence I was reminded that there is always the possibility that history can repeat itself.  Our government is resembling the same soft tyranny that we fought to escape from.  Many say they feel that the Constitution is an antiquated document; however, the document is more like a rule of law which takes into account the basic principles of human nature.  I like using the analogy of business.  As businesses grow and evolve they require standard operating procedures  so that they run efficiently and effectively.  Standard operating procedures are  based upon lessons learned; much like our Constitution.  As America grew and became more populated over the years, the soft tyranny from across the pond could no longer represent us, especially when their priorities were themselves.  Through lessons learned, observations on human nature and government, our Founding Fathers saw the best way forward to make America the greatest country on Earth.  It would be an absolute travesty if our country let the very republic and practice of democracy slip through our fingers due to our own apathy and complacency.  All that our troops have fought for over the last 233 years would be lost.

I fear that America is becoming the frog in a pot and the temperature is being turned up gradually. Which means the frog will never realize it’s in hot water until it’s too late.  As the greatest generation – those who fought in WWII – slowly leave us, baby boomers are confronted with an ever changing and challenging responsibility to our next generation. Much of the lessons learned through hardship and the traditional values are being lost.  The next great generation (40 and younger) has to wake up soon lest our country be lost forever.   Unfortunately, I see many of the younger generations being indoctrinated and deluded by political propaganda.  I see children who are lazy and complacent and barely leave their house because Halo is more important to play than actual exercise and social interaction.  Divorce rates are up because people run as soon as there is pain and troubles.  We no longer live in a society of tough love but that of coddling and immediate gratification.  If this sentiment persists there will be some very unpalatable changes to American culture – much of which is invariably being taken for granted today.

If we continue down this path we can expect Mommy Government to do everything from feeding us to changing our diapers.  Gone will be the days of free enterprise, the entrepreneur, the days of choice in schools, and the choice of our own doctors.  Gone will be the days of prosperity, America as a super-power, national security, and our entire American way of life.  We could actually find ourselves waking up to a state-run radio or TV station.  We will eat government regulated food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We can rest assured that we will motor down the government built highways in our government owned and regulated vehicles, making sure we aren’t leaving huge carbon footprints.  Many of us will find ourselves working at a government job or a government contractor as the size of government grows and DC becomes the next metropolis.  My weekly paycheck will be deposited into a government-run bank, and that government run bank will also control all of my car, home and student loans.  My 401K will be regulated by the government after social security, medicare and medicaid fail.   The stock markets will be run by the government who, after controlling all the financial institutions, will control the purse strings of this country.  I will quit smoking because the government will control tobacco and eventually ban smoking nationwide.  If my government car gives out on me and I get into an accident I will have to attend a government run hospital with government run health care.  The government will provide questionnaires to receive the latest information on the public from the census, working on behalf of the government.  My home will be government mandated with the passing of cap-and-tax, and I will not be able to sell it or build onto it if it doesn’t reach climate change standards.  The light bulbs in my home will become a government requirement and the mercury in the allowable bulbs will kill those who break them.  The government will run everything to the point that none of us will be able to take care of ourselves.  The addiction ridden citizens of the USA will be “jonesing” for their government “crack” in the name of direction and entitlements.  So I must ask, is this what our Founding Fathers fought for, is this what Americans wanted when they asked for “Change?”

It is time for a movement to take back this great nation.  We need several strong leaders who have the charisma, the common sense, and the real American spirit to drive this message home by going around the media bias and straight to the hearts of Americans.  We have already begun and as people get more fed up with politics as usual the more we see the tea party movement grow.  This is the next grassroots movement and it will change the minds of millions!  This past July 4, although the media didn’t cover many, if any, of the protests they were all over the nation.  I attended a smaller one briefly on the way to a cookout and fireworks.  More and more people are becoming disenfranchised with the entire establishment and the government in general.  It’s time for ‘we the people’ to take back the country.

Tea Party Photos & Videos from different locations over the weekend:

Go to Michelle Malkin’s site for streaming of the Dallas Tea Party which drew crowds up to 37,000!

Phoenix, AZ:

Boston, MA:

Denver, CO:

Fort Lauderdale, FL:

Houston, TX:

A Couple From Maryland:

New Mexico:

Rochester, NY:

Tulare, CA:

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Many of us, who continue to read blogs and stay on top of political news, are aware of both the DNC and the RNC and what the parties have turned into.

Republicans and Democrats used to have clear differences between the two, but now they are just a blurred combination of one another.  The point of the two party system was being able to have a choice; namely freedom.

The more I see how congress votes and what each representative or senator puts into their bills, the more I realize, at such a young age, that the government has become power hungry and spend happy.  Congress couldn’t care less where the money comes from; the more “bacon” they bring home to their constituents and their special interests, the more money they receive in donations and campaign contributions as well as a little extra padding in their pockets.

We are being “represented” by an elite political class or, as I like to refer to it, the Politburo.  This is a class of career politicians who have never worked outside of classrooms or as a lawyer or on their parent’s campaign. They have no idea what it is like to be average citizens in the United States working to live and living to work.  Those of us who work 9-5 jobs day in and day out, just to make enough money to pay the bills, know what our priorities are and what really matters in this world.  The political elite is reminiscent of the ‘popular’ clique in the high school I attended.  It was mainly dependent on the income and social status of parents.  Those whose parents belonged to a country club, played tennis, golfed, and went yachting were deemed ‘acceptable.’ However, regardless of your personality, looks, or good will if you didn’t measure up you were stuck in the middle rungs; never quite making it to the upper echelons of high school popularity.  Many went on to ivy league schools, not because they were intelligent, but because they could afford it or they had connections.  After spending 4 years hiding away in the bubble of elitism, some could quote text books or famous philosophers, while many were still incapable of doing anything.  One thing was for sure; they never left their comfort zone to experience life in order to truly understand the difference between intelligence and wisdom; life-experience.  Leadership tends to be a mixture of inherent characteristics as well as learned qualities through personal accomplishment and strife.

I was so incredibly appalled at what I saw and what I heard during the 2008 election cycle.  I thought, based on character and integrity, the choice was obvious.  I was wrong.  The ticket had two very honorable, down-to-earth, decent human beings who, having made it through tremendous struggles, were overlooked due to race baiting, liberal media bias, propaganda, elitism, ivy league degrees, and the usual ‘Bush sucks’ sentiment.

One of my favorite books is the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery, and my favorite part of the story is when the Little Prince meets the Fox and discovers the meaning of friendship.  The book teaches us what really matters after you tear away all of the materialistic aspects of the outside world.  “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential, is invisible to the eye.”

I know I’m not the only person in my age group to understand the Little Prince, but I am few and far between who actually applies it.  What I have noticed during my young life thus far is the fact that those who appreciate honesty, morals, and ethics are usually those who have experienced something in their lives where they have been “enlightened” to a point where they have seen the “bottom” and know what it means to struggle.  When people have to build their lives back up again or work like there’s no tomorrow to make it to the other side, they appreciate what so many others take for granted and they value those things that so many lose sight of; because, let’s face it, our society has become spoiled and we’ve lived beyond our means for too long.

Sarah Palin is the epitome of struggle and accomplishment.  She represents the antithesis of the establishment and the elite.  She is someone who you could sit down and have a heart-to-heart with and feel as though you have been friends for years.  She is the quintessential Reagan type persona who so many have been waiting for.  I feel funny saying that since I was only born in 1981, but I’ve done a bit of research I even have a $1,000,000 bill with Reagan’s face on it hanging in my cubicle.  For all I know that $1,000,000 bill will be worth something soon due to all of this spending and the inevitable inflation!

Sarah Palin has fought her own machine and once you fight that monster under the bed it will keep coming after you for revenge.  We saw that during the Alaska legislative session this past year in her attempt to nominate a decent conservative man as the next Attorney General. We also see it at the national level where Republicans continue to fear her and turn their noses up at her.  The Republicans better be careful because the GOP’s approval rating is not doing too well either.  When Sarah Palin releases her FEC filings for SarahPAC I whole-heartedly believe that we will hear the creaking of “old geriatric” jaws dropping around the beltway.

The DNC is just as bad and just as corrupt, if not more so.  Obama is part of the Machine.  He came from the most politically corrupt city in the nation; Chicago.  He brought this style to Washington D.C. along with a slim resume and only 143 days of working experience in the Senate.  I am doubtful that Obama can manage a hot-dog stand let alone the highest office in the land.

We have seen him sign legislation behind closed doors after he stated that he would make transparency a priority; and we have seen him sign over 18,000 earmarks within his first 100 days after he railed against them.  We have seen him pay off his union buddies and not fire the head of the UAW but fire the head of GM.  (The Union contributed nearly $400M to his campaign).  We have seen him argue against Bush’s outrageous spending, but he has spent more than all presidents before him combined and in only 3 month’s time!

Barack Obama is not “change” or “hope.”  He is the very essence of what it means to be establishment and beholden to lobbyists and special interests.  Too many people were born yesterday in 2008, when it was obvious that the vitriol and hatred spewed towards Sarah Palin should have been reason and proof enough to vote for her ~ she isn’t the establishment and she isn’t in the pocket of the media, the lobbies, or anyone else. She scares the pants off of the Democrats, the Republicans, and the media for that very reason.

The D.C. elite have removed themselves so far from the purpose of their roles, as set forth in our constitution, that they all need to be thrown out as soon as humanly possible (2010).  So let me start the chant “Throw the Bums Out.”

We have seen throughout history the effects of the ruling class trumping democracy and none of those societies have ever ended peacefully and quietly.  One of the more humble and honest of politicians said the following when asked to run for re-election:

“We draw our Presidents from the people. It is a wholesome thing for them to return to the people. I came from them. I wish to be one of them again.” ~ Calvin Coolidge

The media elite and the Politburo went after a woman’s family and continue to dump on her even after she lost the VP slot and has been quietly doing her job in faraway Alaska.  People may find themselves asking why?  The answer to me is blatantly obvious, but to others, maybe not.  She is a threat to everything they hold dear; the very epicenter of their control and power.  She stands true to her morals and principles and does not back down from them, nor does she feel ashamed.  She cannot and will not be manipulated to play machine politics and kowtow to the good old boys.  The people that the GOP prop-up in the media or select to give counter addresses are the people who won’t “rock the boat.”

The establishment wants to bring up non substantive stories about this woman’s family when Obama’s family is far from classy.  He has an illegal aunt living in the slums of Boston, a half-brother in Kenya living on a $1/day in a hut, another half-brother just hospitalized for cholera, and another half-brother just detained and turned away by customs in the UK for sexually assaulting a 13 year-old girl.  He was also born out of wedlock and has more half siblings than previously mentioned.  Joe Biden’s daughter was recently caught on tape at the age of 27, snorting a bunch of cocaine and she has been arrested before for drug possession and obstructing the law.  I’m curious as to why we didn’t hear about this in the media?  How many people in this world have had family members who have made mistakes and gotten into trouble?  Do we have control over family members?  And at what point as a parent do you let your children make their own mistakes so they can learn and become responsible adults?  I can’t choose my family but I can certainly choose my friends and associations.  That’s the difference between Sarah and Obama.  She didn’t choose to associate with domestic terrorists, radicals, or members of the Communist Party USA. She just had a daughter who made a mistake and suffered the consequences for it.

I take extreme offense to anyone who judges Sarah Palin based on the decisions made by her daughter.  Take it from an unruly, rebellious child writing this opinion.  My parents did the best they could with what they had.  They taught me that doing drugs was bad, they didn’t let me go to parties that were unsupervised, and they told me about pre-marital sex.  We spoke, we discussed, and they parented.  I made my decisions accordingly.  My parents never bent my elbow and forced me to drink, they never told me to hop in bed with someone, they never told me to put something up my nose to “feel good.“  Those were my decisions and I should be the one who is judged, not my parents.  The only way that we truly learn is by being allowed to make our own mistakes and applying those lessons in the next phase of our lives.

Sarah Palin is fighting this bipartisan backlash from both sides of the aisle; from both political machines in her state of Alaska and the lower 48.  She is the citizen pundit, the all-American politician, the person who is tired of the way things are and she decided she could make a difference by getting involved.  I’m curious as to whether the elite have a pocket constitution or realize that only half of the founding fathers had a formal education.  Ben Franklin and our first president, George Washington, were two of those men.  They wrote about regular citizens representing the government and the fear we should have if the government ever became too powerful.  Sarah Palin knows this and she believes in the founding principle of Federalism.  If people would only open their eyes and their ears.

Rob Harrison from The Spyglass writes the following:

Gov. Palin is now in a difficult, though probably inevitable, position.  She is opposed by a bi-partisan coalition of the machine politicians in Alaska, who oppose each other on policy but share a common higher loyalty to the old boys’ club and the perks and procedures to which they’re accustomed.  Gov. Palin has the support of a strong majority of the Alaskan people, but only a minority of the state’s politicians. This has meant that the State Legislature has been in full foot-dragging mode through the entire session – a fact which they now intend, via the Democratic Party PR department (aka the MSM, specifically the New York Times), to blame on her.

That the MSM will coordinate with the Democratic/Republican machine in Alaska on this is, I believe, a sign of their deepest agenda here—not just their general bias against conservatives, but a deeper bias yet:  as much as they bleat about “speaking truth to power,” they are not the outside critics of the machine that they pretend to be.  Rather, they are a part of the machine. They are inside the corridors of power, that’s where they want to be, and they really have no true understanding or interest of the world outside those corridors.

This is true, I believe, even of the conservatives within the MSM; which is why a lot of the elite conservative writers have been almost as unfair to Gov. Palin as their liberal colleagues. If a Democratic version of Gov. Palin were ever to emerge, a true reformer who bucked the party machine, I don’t think the likes of Eleanor Clift and Paul Krugman would be any kinder to that individual than the likes of David Brooks and David Frum have been to Gov. Palin.  The initial MSM reaction to the appointment of Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to Hillary Clinton’s vacant seat in the U.S. Senate certainly supports that thought.

Thomas Sowell also wrote an opinion entitled “Not One of Us,” in which he expresses the need to embrace Sarah Palin and explains why it is that those who are part of the Republican Elite have trouble doing just that.

Pragmatism tells you nothing about extremism. But the conservative intellectuals who seize upon President Obama’s pragmatism to give him the benefit of the doubt are obviously bending over backward for some reason.

With Governor Palin, it is just the opposite. The conservative intelligentsia who react against her have remarkably little to say that will stand up to scrutiny. People who actually dealt with her, before she became a national figure, have expressed how much they were impressed by her intelligence.

Governor Palin’s “inexperience” is a talking point that might have some plausibility if it were not for the fact that Barack Obama has far less experience in actually making policies than Sarah Palin has. Joe Biden has had decades of experience in being both consistently wrong and consistently a source of asinine statements.

Governor Palin’s candidacy for the vice presidency was what galvanized grass roots Republicans in a way that John McCain never did. But there was something about her that turned even some conservative intellectuals against her and provoked visceral anger and hatred from liberal intellectuals.

Perhaps the best way to try to understand these reactions is to recall what Eleanor Roosevelt said when she first saw Whittaker Chambers, who had accused Alger Hiss of being a spy for the Soviet Union. Upon seeing the slouching, overweight, and disheveled Chambers, she said, “He’s not one of us.”

The trim, erect, and impeccably dressed Alger Hiss, with his Ivy League and New Deal pedigree, clearly was “one of us.” As it turned out, he was also a liar and a spy for the Soviet Union. Not only did a jury decide that at the time, the opening of the secret files of the Soviet Union in its last days added more evidence of his guilt.

The Hiss-Chambers confrontation of more than half a century ago produced the same kind of visceral polarization that Governor Sarah Palin provokes today.

[...]

Why did it matter so much to so many people which of two previously little-known men was telling the truth? Because what was on trial was not one man but a whole vision of the world and a way of life.

Governor Sarah Palin is both a challenge and an affront to that vision and that way of life– an overdue challenge, much as Chambers’ challenge was overdue.

Whether Governor Palin runs for national office again is something that only time will tell. But the Republicans need a candidate who is neither one of the country club Republicans nor– worse yet– the sort of person who appeals to the intelligentsia.

The recent Rasmussen Polls only further drive home Sowell’s point when we see that the elite Politburo had an overwhelmingly unfavorable view of the recent Tea Party protests that took place across the nation.  Governor Sarah Palin’s father, Chuck Heath, actually attended one in Wasilla, AK, and Governor Palin, herself, applauded the efforts of the protesters and even mentioned them in her 45 minute Pro-Life Speech last Thursday in Evansville, IN.

These Tea Parties show the disparity between the elite and the working class of America, the engine of the economy and the majority of this nation’s citizens.  The Tea Parties are the embodiment of what most Americans desire of their government, which is representation, ethics, reform, principles, and their own interests served; not the ego of a politician or the pockets of the lobbyists.

But maybe it’s not best listening to someone from the states. Maybe it’s better to hear similar dislike and apathy toward the elite establishment from across the pond to further grasp that this concept and this problem is not exclusive only to us.

The New Snobs of Labour have gathered this week in Manchester for their party get-together. Snobbish? You bet. Our country is now governed by an elite that denies being elite. Our ruling class flaunts its state education, yet attended the best comprehensives in the land.

Of course, David Cameron’s cocooned background (Eton and Oxford) isn’t ideal preparation to lead the country, but David Miliband didn’t exactly grow up on a council estate either. Nor did I. However, like all those from the genuine middle I grew up around those who did. We went to school with them. We still see them. We couldn’t avoid seeing them even if we wanted to.

But for the new ruling class, which we might call the New Labour core vote, those from council estates are, knife crime aftermaths aside, invisible.

“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cant’ have both.” ~ Louis D. Brandeis

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Legislator to colleagues: ‘Your laws not authorized by Constitution’
Chelsea Schilling

As a reminder of the federal government’s limited powers, 20 representatives want to ensure that every single piece of legislation passing through Congress includes a statement citing specific constitutional authority for enacting it.

Sponsored by Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., H.R. 450, or the Enumerated Powers Act, states, “Each Act of Congress shall contain a concise and definite statement of the constitutional authority relied upon for the enactment of each portion of that Act. The failure to comply with this section shall give rise to a point of order in either House of Congress. …”

When he introduced the proposal Jan. 9, Shadegg gave a House floor speech reminding his colleagues of limited authority granted in the 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

It states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

“What that means is that the Founding Fathers intended our national government to be a limited government, a government of limited powers that cannot expand its legislative authority into areas reserved to the states or to the people,” Shadegg said. “As the final amendment in the 10 Bill of Rights, it is clear that the Constitution establishes a Federal Government of specifically enumerated and limited powers.”

For that reason, Shadegg said he has introduced the Enumerated Powers Act each year that he’s been in Congress.

“This measure would enforce a constant and ongoing re-examination of the role of our national government,” he said. “… It is simply intended to require a scrutiny that we should look at what we enact and that, by doing so, we can slow the growth and reach of the Federal Government, and leave to the states or the people, those functions that were reserved to them by the Constitution.”

Read complete story here.

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