Curtis Dahlgren
My State Fair Lady; Lemons to lemonaid, malaise to marmalade: Sarah
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By Curtis Dahlgren
December 2, 2009

"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink." — George Orwell

LIBERALS ARE BLOWN AWAY BY FOOTNOTES AND BIG WORDS (even though they don't actually read the footnotes). One "reviewer" of Sarah Palin's book, who admittedly hadn't read the book, joked that he "bet" that it doesn't contain any footnotes, "but the pictures are probably nice." HO HO HO.

WELL, when I brought the book home from K-MART, I let the Lord "open" the book, as I often do with a new book, and it "fell open" to p. 174-175 — the "lemons" part of the book (two miscarriages and a Down Syndrome son). I have a "gift" that way of finding a book's most powerful line within seconds, or minutes at most.

"I grieved when I had that second miscarriage, too, but with so many people now depending on me, I had to react differently. Life does toughen up your reactions to devastating news." — Sarah Palin

Speaking of liberals, I wish that the textbooks for our school children were written by people who have lived life for awhile instead of "doctoral" candidates in their twenties. And every school child in America should read Sarah's book (if only little Johnnie could read)!

Almost every page of her book brings tears to my eyes. I didn't even notice the "pictures" at first, but the first picture I saw made me bawl like a baby; it was the photo of Mr. Heath's "old blue Rambler" in which he moved his family from Sand Point, Idaho to Skagway, Alaska, population 650, when Sarah was three months old.

"Skagway was a sweet start in life . . In Skagway, icy winds tear relentlessly through town. But I don't remember the winters as well. I mostly remember sunny summer days . . the hum of propellers on the gravel airstrip right near the middle of town . . . "

Right away, you see why New Yorkers like Maureen Dowd can't relate to Sarah Palin. But that explains my tears. When my dad sold his dairy farm, he bought a blue Rambler station wagon, the newest car he ever owned other than his '26 Model T. He owned two Rambler Americans, and I owned two other ones myself (the last one in the 1980s). So that caused the first tears to fall. But that unexpected phenomenon continues as I read the book (I'm up to page 165 now). At one point, I forget the page, my tears actually fell on my reading glasses, and I washed the lenses with my own tears.

Mo Dowd compared Sarah Palin to Liza Doolittle, the cockneyed flower seller in "My Fair Lady." The modern "Sophists" have compared her to everything from 'slutty flight attendant' to "Governor Gidget" (everything, so far, except SKAG, as in Skagway). Obviously, they haven't read the Book.

"It was the Alaska State Fair, August 2008. With the gray Talkeetna Mountains in the distance and the first covering of snow about to descend on Pioneer Peak, I breathed in an autumn bouquet that combined everything small-town America with splashes of the Last Frontier."

The lady can write, and I don't mean Mo Dowd. The latter, in her blind-rage and jealousy, must have forgotten how "My Fair Lady" turned out. Maybe she never saw the play either.

Life is a paradox, and Liberals don't "get" the nuances of a paradox — such as the need for competition in America, "beyond the Last Frontier." I knew that Sarah wasn't a "Doolittle," but I didn't know that she had played on a state championship basketball team, or that she had run marathons. Quite obviously, Liberals are intimidated by her competitive streak, and they don't understand the ultimate source of her drive either. Sarah starts out page 1 with a quotation from Lou Holtz:

"I don't believe that God put us on earth to be ordinary."

Chapter two begins with one from Aristotle:

"Criticism is something we can avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, being nothing."

Sarah has more than one quote from Coach John Wooden of UCLA. Chapter three starts out:

"Our land is everything to us . . I will tell one of the things we remember on our land. We remember that our grandfathers paid for it — with their lives."

Her book is dedicated to "all Patriots who share my love of the United States of America . . . God bless the fight for freedom."

MAKE NO MISTAKE: we are in a fight right now, right this month, in a fight for our lives, and a fight for Freedom. "Going Rogue" is going to have a lot to SAY about that fight, whether the New York Times deigns to "review" it or not! The "nor-easters" don't share Sarah's love for the USA. That may sound like an "extreme" statement, but by their own words, our modern Sophists want America knocked off her pedestal.

Shoot, for that matter, they want the whole species Homo sapiens knocked off its pedestal — and they have said so! Why do you suppose they don't want you to read the Book, or the words of our Founding Fathers? They are philosophically 180 degrees out of phase with the Founders, that's why. The modern Sophists, who literally loathe people such as Sarah, worship at the altar of Nature, while simultaneously trying to silence by intimidation the rest of us who, in Aristotle's words, still want to "say something, do something, and be something."

Heroes are "so seventeenth century"! Celebrity is in, and heroes are "out" and achievers are to be "put down" (literally).

"Ambition drives; purpose beckons. Purpose calls. I definitely wasn't driven toward any particular goal, like power or fame or wealth. So what was it? . . I prayed again that if I was to resign myself to what felt like a public service career cut short, that I'd embrace being home full-time. I asked that the fire in my belly, and whatever was feeding it, would simmer down.

"I thought of a passage from the book of Jeremiah . . 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord."


[God was telling Jeremiah that he would bring Israel back from Babylon after 70 years of captivity. The Age of Miracles is not "past history"; it repeats itself. From 1917-18 to 1987 or so, one-third of the species Homo sapiens was under the thumb of Soviet Communism. The beginning of the end of the USSR occurred at about the time of the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution, and the election of George Washington. God notices, even if the modern Sophists don't. He who laughs last, laughs best. But back to Sarah's book.]

"We were Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, all working together, bound by our fierce determination to do things the right way, based on free-market competition and a transparent government.

"Our goal was to commercialize Alaska's treasure of oil and gas by opening up the North Slope basin to long-term exploration and production, thus creating jobs and ensuring a stable energy supply . . .

"Most of us spent my first two days in office in a windowless conference room, convening with oil executives to listen to their opinions on the [gas] pipeline's future. The producers had heavily backed Murkowski in the primary and Knowles in the general election. I walked into those meetings with coffee in hand, cookies to serve our guests, and thought to myself,
Hmmm. You just spent a year trying to kick my ass. I just spent a year trying to kick yours . . . 'Want a cookie?'"

The other candidates for governor had suggested "tweaking" Murkowski's plan to "hand over state sovereignty to Big Oil" but Sarah insisted on starting over from scratch. Her team, with the "collective will" of the people of Alaska, succeeded. It was a "Big Deal"! "Collective will" is favorite mantra of the "green" movement, but Sarah says:

"Internally, our natural gas mantra was 'Greenies, Grannies, and Gunnies.'

"Greenies: Natural gas is the cleanest nonrenewable fuel.

"Grannies: Production of a domestic supply from Alaska would help those on fixed incomes, such as the elderly, by increasing supply and lowering costs . .

"Gunnies: Alaska's energy supplies would help lead America toward energy independence and greater national security . . . So politically incorrect. Perfect."


[LOL. It's high time to stop letting Liberals get away with pretending to help "the little people" while at the same time, privately they are hoping to see higher and higher energy prices. A gallon of diesel hit $5 in my home town at its peak, but Liberals would be happy to see it higher than that even — "more like Europe"! The better to force you to buy "Smart" Cars, etc.]

It's hard to select the "best" line from Sarah's book, but this is one of them:

"I began my first speech as governor of Alaska by honoring the framers of our Constitution, created to guide our state. 'It demands that Alaskans come first. It will keep my compass pointed true north . . .'

"I hit on the issues critical to our state: responsible energy resource development, cleaning up corruption, putting Alaskans to work in good jobs, reforming education, and nurturing that most precious resource — our children — because in every one of their lives there is
purpose and destiny . . "Inaugural address (my emphasis)

No "big words" there yet, but now politically incorrect. How perfect. And how reflective of the way Sarah and her siblings were raised. She tells how, when the family got its first TV set, her dad put it in the attic of the garage, with only wood heat. If the kids wanted to watch TV "badly enough," they had to start the stove and warm it up. And sometimes it was 30 below zero outside when they were trying to watch "the wonderful world of Disney."

Chuck Heath, Sr. was a public school teacher, only he was the old-fashioned kind I recall from my one-room grade school and high school days. You know — when they taught history! Speaking of "purpose," a University of Wisconsin graduate from the "olden" days once said, "The significance of man is that he is that part of the universe that asks the question, What is the significance of man?" [historian Carl Becker, PhD 1907]

I got that from my new issue of On Wisconsin in an article on famous quotations by Badgers. Under the heading "Shaping the Social Sciences," on the other hand, a professor Richard Ely (1892-1925) once wrote:

"When we come to speak of the disadvantages of freedom, that is to say, of competition, it occurs to us that the moral atmosphere of a race-course is not a wholesome one. Competition tends to force the level of economic life down to the moral standard of the worst men who can sustain themselves in the business community."

It pains me that this man taught Wisconsin kids that kind of drivel for over 30 years. It is typical though of the dominant philosophy of our self-defined "elites" — the idea that only the "worst men" can succeed in business. If you want "big words," just listen to today's "academics" and you'll get the idea. "Communism" is one of those big words, and that leads to other big words such as "Utopianism" — which always lead to "shortages" (another "big word"). And they almost unanimously hate Sarah Palin.

"My siblings all won many more sports awards than I, as I wasn't equipped with anything close to their natural talent. But I once overheard Dad say to another coach that he'd never had an athlete work harder. Overhearing those words was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. Maybe God didn't give me natural athleticism . . but I loved competition. I loved pushing myself and even pushing through pain to reach a goal . . .

"Everything I ever needed to know, I learned on the basketball court."


I hope that "overhearing" those words will also inspire you to read "Going Rogue." I'd also recommend buying it a K-MART, since the jealous Mo Down made fun of Sarah as "a K-MART mom." And Sarah didn't learn everything on the basketball court. She says:

"My folks were smart: less TV meant more books. From The Pearl to Jonathan Livingston Seagull to Animal Farm and anything by C.S. Lewis, I would put down one book just long enough to pick up another."

This is the State Fair Lady who is characterized as a dunce by the Lefties, most of whom have evidently never read "Animal Farm" — or "1984"! You can get "Going Rogue" through NewsMax magazine or Human Events, but I'd prefer you buy extra ones for your family, friends, and neighbors from K-MART. It's a Michigan company besides, and we need all the help we can get right now. The last word in the body of Sarah's book is "Michigan."

"I can't help but think of Michigan — the state where I 'went rogue' trying to reach out during the [08] campaign . . . I've been asked a lot lately, 'Where are you going next?" Good question! . .

"I always tell my kids that God doesn't drive parked cars, so we'll talk about getting on the next road and gearing up for hard work to travel down it to reach new goals. I'm thinking when I get back I'll bake the kids a cake. And I'll pull out a road map — I want to show Piper the way to Michigan."

CONCLUSION

I think that that was a shot across the bow, or off the backboard, for the benefit of the RINO liberals (whether she ever runs for office again
or not). I don't think most people get it. These times are SERIOUS.

Michael Savage says "only God can save us now."

Edmund Burke said: "Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, can never willingly abandon it."

Now there's a "big word," and there's a lot of "emolument" involved with Trillion Dollar government spending proposals (plural)! It remains to be seen whether the modern Sophists who love big words will give up their power "willingly" without a FIGHT. Sarah says:


"Remember that as your voice is heard and your spine stiffened, the spines of others are stiffened, too.

"And finally, thanks to Todd, Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig, and Tripp. You are my reason for living. I breathe you. If everything else were to all go away, as long as I have you, then life is good. I look at you and see miracles in all your lives and know there is a God."

P.S.


There are some more "big words" for the scoffers: like "miracles" and "Purpose." And "THANKS" (when she met Todd, she whispered, "Thank you, God").

[Apologies to Sarah and HarperCollins for over-quoting in this review, but it can't hurt. My favorite quotation in "Going Rogue" was by a friend of hers, Curtis Menard, Jr.]

"In politics, you're either eating well or sleeping well." Sarah says she wanted to sleep well.

PPS: When President Obama was asked about the White House feud with Fox News, he said that he's "not losing any sleep" over the issue. The rest of us may be losing sleep over it though.

I've been up since 4 o'clock this morning, but only because the sky is so clear and cold up here in the U.P. that the full moon was lighting up my bedroom. And because my dog snores.

© Curtis Dahlgren

 

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Curtis Dahlgren

Curtis Dahlgren is semi-retired in southern Wisconsin, and is the author of "Massey-Harris 101." His career has had some rough similarities to one of his favorite writers, Ferrar Fenton... (more)

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