The Palins are a Threat to Liberals

Letter to the Editor

The Palins are a threat to liberals for the simple reason they are living proof that personal responsibility and living with our choices can be kind, cool, smart, and accomplished - and we can keep our figures.

The Palins are the needed poster children for the "extreme make-over" of the Republican Party needed even as it must stay true to its Reagan era roots. Simply put, the Palins embody the conservative's creedo of family, country, hard work and accountability but they are also all over an unfettered passion for life, accomplishment, forgiveness and unconditional, but hard-love.

The Palins with their real-life actions as a family, even in the spot light, are poster-children for John McCain's version of conservatism. McCain conservatism is a magnet to those of us who embody conservative thinking in our every day decisions, but politically were turned off - and turned out -- by the Republican Party to the realm of "independents".

I don't think I speak for myself when I say I didn't like the stodgy, judgmental, unforgiving hypocritical philosophy sometimes seen walking around during the Reagan Revolution. How could I say such a thing? That hard-faced side of the Reagan conservative movement was never consistent with my strong belief that there was only one perfect person. The Democrat party in the meantime became a take all, be all party. Literally. Even though I was acutely aware that if ever anyone needed to be forgiven and accepted despite her sins, I didn't see it as a philosophy that would build a better civilization.

I believed that with unconditional tough love hardworking successful folks like me should help those who fall down, but neither believed people who make bad choices are entitled to be coddled by government nor socially exiled. As an independent conservative stuck for decades between my compassion for human faux paus and the hardline "You should just do Right or be cast", finally, with John McCain as my candidate I am a Republican. A John McCain conservative. And the liberals and Democrats hate to lose me.

By Christi Conner Tate

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