Fear and the Far Left

What is fear, and why does it affect us so? The process of creating fear starts with a scary stimulus and ends with the fight-or-flight response. It can cause us to run, to fight, to freeze or create other mystifying responses. So exactly what is this powerful emotion that can consume us for brief periods of time?

To quote Brian Maxwell, from his ezine article, “What is Fear?” he says: “The medical definition of fear is a chain reaction in the brain that starts with stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals that cause a racing heart, fast breathing and energized muscles, among other things, also known as the fight or flight response.” That stimulus could be anything; an evil looking bug, a spider, a gun pointed at you, or Sarah Palin resigning from her position as Governor of Alaska.

Of course Mr. Maxwell didn’t put that part about Sarah Palin in his article. I added it to illustrate how the left views Ms. Palin and what she represents to them. Why is it that she strikes fear into the left? What is it about the former Vice Presidential candidate that bothers the left so much? She represents something they do not like. That is evidenced in the 20 different ethics charges that were brought against her; each one beaten in the court of law at considerable tax payer expense. Let’s examine what she has accomplished and maybe that will give us the answer we are looking for.

In her role as Mayor of Wasilla, she made her political name first known. Now Wasilla, with around 10,000 residents as of 2007, is the fifth largest city in Alaska and is located in the south central part of the state. Upon winning the mayoral race in 1998, Sarah set to work. She reduced her own salary by 10%, consolidated some city departments and created the position of city administrator. An interesting note that shines a light on the type of leadership Sarah Palin provides is that she kept a jar on her desk with all the names of the residents of Wasilla in it and once a week, she would randomly choose a name, call that person and elicit their thoughts on how the town was doing. I think that we need more mayors like this in America with this kind of dedication, no matter their political party. That is real government accountability and transparency.

She cut property taxes by a whopping 75% by using a 2% sales tax increase that was enacted before she took office. She also eliminated business inventory and personal property taxes. She made improvements to city streets and sewers using municipal bonds and increased Police Department funding. When Sarah ran for re-election against the man she beat to win her first term, she got 75% of the vote. The Boston Globe ran a story that quoted a local business owner who credited Sarah with making the town “more of a community … It’s no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat.”

And all this was only as mayor of a small town and only her first term. One can begin to see why the left fears Sarah Palin. Her second term as Mayor of Wasilla was also successful, seeing her bring to fruition the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex. An eminent domain issue had to be dealt with; however, it was built on time and under budget and for only a half percent sales tax increase. Due to term limits, she was limited to running for only two consecutive terms as Mayor of Wasilla. So she set her sights on the state capitol.

After an unsuccessful run for Lieutenant Governor in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as Ethics Supervisor. She resigned in 2004 citing unethical practices by her Republican colleagues. She filed charges against them and essentially cleaned house.

In 2006 Sarah ran and won the state Gubernatorial Seat. During her tenure she doubled state revenues. Yes, you read that right; she DOUBLED state revenues to $10 billion. And that is without a state sales tax or a state income tax. She ran on a platform of clean government and delivered, even selling a state owned business jet for $2.1 million dollars.

Yes, it is easy to see why the left fears Sarah Palin. She is the quintessential conservative candidate. And now that she has left office, there are many questions as to why she did so.

• Money? The speaking circuit can be quite profitable, as everyone knows.
• Power? Well, giving up the top position in a state is not quite doing that.
• The ever-popular “run for President?” Who knows, and more importantly, who cares? It is ultimately up to Sarah to reveal that to the American public in her own good time.

But, regardless of what one thinks of her – neither she, nor anyone else could effectively build a campaign for President from the great state of Alaska. It is just too geographically removed from the mainland. Add to the fact that now that she is a civilian, the muckrakers who want to press made up ethics charges against her now have to pony up money, and one can see why she did what she did. It was a smart move for more than one reason.

She is intelligent, holds traditional conservative views, is pleasing to the eye and has a presence on the stage or behind the podium as the case may be that we have not seen in this nation since Ronald Reagan. That being said, I think the reason she came off less than stellar during the campaign is twofold.

1. The mainstream media gave her a very rough time. Waiting like vultures to pick on each and every word she misspoke. For example, she told a grade schooler, I think the child was 8 years old, a very simplified version of what the Vice President does. The media took that and ran with it, saying she didn’t even know what her job would be if McCain won. On the other hand, Obama said he had been to “all 57 states.” The media was strangely silent on that. Imagine if you will that Palin had made that faux-pas. It has been said that she was picked from relative obscurity and thrust into the limelight. A difficult proposition no matter which side of the aisle you sit on. Due to McCain waiting so long, she basically had to hit the ground running.
2. First hand accounts at the McCain rallies testified to the political star power that Palin wields. McCain’s rallies swelled in number and he was quoted as saying, “The response to her has been overwhelming, it’s been incredible. She’s ignited America.” I believe that McCain’s handlers actually became wary of that, and therefore they joined in the left’s efforts to malign her. To his detriment, McCain did not put a stop to it as he should have. It would have made him look like a leader and actually, I think, scored points with the GOP base.

The left is still maligning Sarah Palin and this only proves that she is a person that they fear. Saleem Rana said in his ezine article, “How Fear Inhibits Self-Expression and Personal Growth” that “Fear left unchecked can lead to all kinds of neurosis and inhibitions.” And that “the reaction to fear is so extreme that something is actually created to fear.”

The left is in danger of pushing their hatred of Sarah Palin too far. Because to go back to the fear article I cited at the beginning of this essay, the left needs to remember the Law of Attraction, which states that “Excessive focus on a feared event will attract to us exactly the event which we fear.” In other words: what we focus on we create. So keep it up, far left. You are helping to forge if not a great conservative Presidential candidate, then surely a great conservative voice.