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The purpose of this blog is to get readers to think about the complex (or perhaps simple) issues I write about.

The primary topics will revolve around politics and society as a whole, but a mixture of sports opinion may be thrown in from time to time.


Monday, January 28, 2013

Thanks For Your Time, Sarah.

It was recently announced that Fox News decided not to renew their contract with Sarah Palin as a "Fox News Contributor" and thus, her last official appearance on the Network was December 19, 2012. 

Dear Sarah,

I wanted to write a letter of thanks and admiration for your contributions to the GOP and the conservative movement writ-large. Like most Party-regular conservatives, my fondest memories of you were your early stops on the campaign trail in 2008, (of course I am talking pre-nightly news interviews). To be totally honest, you had a right to become who you became over the course of that campaign, if it weren't for your speech at the Republican Convention, I likely would not have supported the GOP ticket in 2008. While I hate the term "Maverick" to describe John McCain or yourself, your book following the defeat, specifically its title, "Going Rogue" perfectly summarizes how I came to love you so quickly, as many on our side did in 2008.

You were a political nobody in terms of Beltway knowledge, a hockey mom and popular governor, until the Beltway press was unleashed on your history. An "outsider" in every since of the word. As the race wore on, and by the time the stock market crashed and your ticket tumbled, you never fell out of favor with me. I was eating all the red meat that your existence in politics was throwing my way. As you exited the stage on election night, I knew that America-who had already grown tired of you was going to get more of you regardless of that disposition. In the American Media Tradition, Fox News snapped you up as a contributor and you used your new found political celebrity to overexpose yourself in the only way one can these days.

Indeed I thought you would bring value to the conservative movement writ large and specifically the emerging Tea Party. As your influence on the 2010 midterms took shape, I had already fallen out of love with you. I don't know whether the media's portrayal of you had finally gotten to me, or I couldn't just handle seeing you so overly exposed. To your credit, you were (and still are, I am sure) the biggest believer in yourself, but once the midterms of 2010 were over, and I started crunching the numbers, I began to see something in you I never wanted to see.

In 2010 and up until recently you've stormed the country campaigning for anyone and everyone who would pay your fees. I admire your entrepreneurship in that regard, but your demeanor and rhetoric and the message you put out came with a humongous cost to the Party you clearly don't care about, but also the thing you seem to care about most, the conservative movement. Your involvement in the primaries led to the re-election of Senator Harry Reid in Nevada, and gave credence to an argument-in-practice that continues to haunt the conservative movement to this day.

What I am referring to is your brand's notion that the most ideologically pure candidate must win every Primary Election despite of what will happen to them in the General. If there is one thing I can't stand about conservatives like yourself is that they see the conservative movement through a rifle's scope instead of a pair of binoculars. This notion that conservatives must cut off their noses in spite of their face to better the cause is one that you've given way too much value to. It is what caused Christine O'Donnell to be the Party's standard bearer in the 2010 Delaware Senate Election, instead of the highly-moderate Mike Castle who would have won in a landslide. What this type of argument-in-practice does is say, "I would rather take pride in having elected a liberal who will vote my interests 0% of the time, than a Republican who would vote my interest at least 50% of the time."

As you head back into moderate irrelevance, I would beg you to think about researching the conservative movement in this country. If you've done a good job, you'll know that it is a movement that will eternally be fighting the institutional headwinds you already know exist (Media, Institutions of Higher Education) and thus cannot be burdened by the self-inflicted headwind that takes shape as the search for ideological purity. Hopefully when you come to terms with this as the reality of our burden, you will remind yourself that the conservative movement can only be moved through legislative action, and not from large crowds of people who scream from the sidelines.

I appreciate what you've brought to American politics, and you won't soon be forgotten. But the only way for you to stay relevant is to make better choices, both in terms of who you support and your oratory for the conservative cause as a whole. Do you need to support a Mike Castle? No, but you need to realize that those people with an "R" behind their name if elected serve the conservative movement far better than those who get elected with a "D" behind their names. 

Take some time to find yourself, the person who you really are, not what your time in politics has made you. Trust me, conservatives like myself fell in love with the Sarah Palin who was shocked to be called upon to run as VP, not the shameless, self-promoting human talking points purveyor you've become. Look at history, read Edmund Burke, read William F. Buckley, and spend as much time on the National Review as you do reading letters from your supporters.

If you don't make your way back, enjoy your life with your fantastic family in the beautiful setting in which you live. You have much to be thankful for, and I thank you for the lessons and zeal you have given me during your time in national politics.

Sincerely,
Brandon

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