What Can Sarah Palin Bring to the Republican Ticket?

I don't love politics. I tend to stay out of political discussions because I know that most people who disagree with me aren't likely to change their minds. So many of my arguments are based solely on my own opinion and not fact. Besides, I get bored watching the media blabbering on and on about candidates because it seems even they can't report without seeming biased toward one party or another. When I've voted in the past, I've generally voted along party lines. I am a conservative - meaning I am pro-life and pro-family. I tend to vote Republican because they tend to be pro-life and pro-family as well. I never had trouble deciding whom to vote for during presidential elections because usually there was a conservative choice and a liberal choice.

This year, I was quite disappointed to see John McCain become the front-runner for the Republicans. I had heard he is quite liberal for a Republican. To be honest, I didn't know much about him, but other conservatives I know didn't like him and that meant I probably wouldn't either. I found myself, for the first time ever, considering a Democrat as a reasonable choice for President. Barack Obama is such a smooth talker and who doesn't want at least some "change" in our government and our country? For me, though, he has one fatal flaw - he's pro-choice and even has supported partial birth abortion. Partial birth abortion is such a gruesome and horrifying practice that it's hard for me to believe that anyone would ever condone such an act - I actually researched (another first for me) to find out whether or not Obama actually did oppose the ban on partial birth abortion and it is true.¹ He also opposed a "born-alive" protection act, which prevents the killing of babies who were accidentally left alive after an abortion. I know that there are other issues in elections, but I simply cannot vote for someone who refuses to give the tiniest of humans the most basic right - the right to live.

Suddenly I found myself in a quandary - I was beginning to agree with conservative leader James Dobson who said, "Should John McCain capture the nomination as many assume, I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime." He also said regarding McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, "If these are the nominees in November, I simply will not cast a ballot for president for the first time in my life."² At that point there was no "lesser of two evils" for me; McCain supported the destruction of embryos for stem-cell research - not as horrific as abortion, yet the destruction of life nonetheless. He also had some questionable statements about gay marriage and other issues conservatives like me hold dear to their hearts. In my mind, he was just as bad a choice as anyone else.

I had truly given up hope of actually wanting to place my vote for a president in November when along came Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska and now John McCain's pick for Vice President. Who? Yeah, that was me for sure. I had no idea who she was or what she stood for or why the heck McCain chose her as his running mate. My first thought, like everyone else, was that he picked her simply because she is a woman. It makes sense - that way, someone who wanted to make history by voting in the first minority president could still make history by voting in the first female vice president. Obviously, it might also appeal to supporters of Hillary who were disappointed in Obama's apparent rejection of her. But after seeing bits of Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention and reading more about who she is and what she stands for, I think I have another pretty good reason why they chose her.

Most people know by now that Palin has a son, Trig, who has Downs Syndrome. She was already known as being pro-life, but she proved it by giving birth to a baby she knew would have special needs before he was even born. "Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives."³ This brings tears to my eyes - in this day and age, people chose to "terminate the pregnancy" when they find that their child might not be "normal," but Sarah Palin chose life. And she apparently encouraged her teenage daughter to do the same. Bristol, who is 17, is pregnant and was in the perfect position to get an abortion. Certainly that pregnancy was not planned and the baby, when it's born, will present major challenges to the teenage girl and the baby's father. The pregnancy has caused people to question Palin's abilities as a mother and therefore her ability to lead. It would have been much easier to just end the pregnancy (and the baby's life) and cover up her daughter's mistake like so many young girls are doing these days. Even Obama says that he wouldn't want to punish his daughters with a baby in the event that they should find themselves in the same situation.²

Not only is she so openly pro-life, she is also openly an evangelical Christian. In one of the little "facts" scrolling across the screen on whatever channel I was watching the RNC (another first!) on, they said that she was raised in the Assemblies of God denomination and is now a member of a non-denominational church. Four years ago, the media was convinced that this country had already had enough of George W. Bush. What a shock when he was re-elected! They "blamed" it on "evangelical Christians." They realized after the elections were over that apparently faith-related issues (such as abortion and gay marriage) were more important to the American public than they once thought. Conservative Christians were so bent on keeping John Kerry out of office because of his liberal views that they were willing to re-elect Bush. (For the record, I don't think he's done such a bad job - you can't blame a bad economy on one man just like you can give one man the credit for a good one.) McCain was definitely missing the mark for that group of voters - if they were the ones who swayed the votes in Bush's direction, he was in trouble because, like James Dobson, they certainly had no desire to vote for a liberal like McCain. Bringing Sarah Palin in on the Republican ticket might be just enough to pull them over to McCain's side. It was for me. For what it's worth, and I know that's not much, I am now thinking that I actually CAN vote for McCain. And I'm guessing I represent a number of "evangelicals" out there who were previously undecided. If the last presidential election truly was decided by conservative Christians, then Sarah Palin - pro-life, pro-family, evangelical Christian herself, mother of a special needs baby, and someone most of us feel like we can relate to - is the perfect choice to add to the Republican ticket.

Sources:

1.Omission Watch: Pro-Life Alaska Governor Has Down Syndrome Baby, by Tim Graham

2. Obama's Abortion Extremism, by Micheal Gerson

3. Dobson won't Vote if McCain wins GOP