Organize 4 Palin - Montana | Just another WordPress.com site

This morning was dawning bright and crisp. The end of September. The leaves are turning gold and red, the fields filled with cultivars, plump and ripe, just waiting for the magic that changes them from vegetables to delicate breads, luscious pies, and soft warm cookies. Love those pumpkins – I can eat pie for breakfast and pretend it’s good for me.

And my husband starts right in on me: “It’s the end of September. She hasn’t announced. She can’t get in now. It’s over. It’s too late. Harrrumph.” I opened one eye just to see if there was enough time for me to roll over and ignore him. No such luck. Less than two minutes to the buzzer. Let the morning political lecture commence. With the Squawk Box noise in the background, DH continued his rant. “She said she’d announce by the end of September. She’d better announce by the end of today or she won’t have any supporters left. Nobody will vote for her if she doesn’t get in right now.”

I’ve been married to the man for forty years, so I wasn’t getting too worked up – he tends to start out at full throttle and taper off once the caffeine kicks in. So I trundled off to the kitchen to let the dogs out and make the coffee. From the bedroom I can hear him grumbling, “Christie is going to get in. You watch. It’s all over for her. She can’t win if she doesn’t get in today.” He was still lying in bed, so he couldn’t stomp his feet, but that was about the only thing missing from this tantrum. As I brought the coffee in, he continued to rail, second verse same as the first: “She has to announce today or she’s toast.” He was having a temper tantrum worthy of our two-year-old grandson. Championship caliber.

So my initial retort probably wasn’t the wisest remark I could have made if I had wanted to carry on a serious discussion, “Gee, who pee’d in your Cheerios this morning?” Oh, oh! Watch out: Incoming!!! Well, I’m Irish, so I can’t walk away from a good debate, so I let the return volley begin… from behind the shower curtain. There’s one thing I’ve learned since waking up on July 4, 1971 – I don’t directly engage with the man until after 3 p.m. Works much better that way. Trust me. Gives me a good eight hours to get the rebuttal down pat before venturing into the combat zone. Increases the odds of survival. Mine, anyway.

Heavy sigh. In almost an hour of ranting and raving, I don’t think my husband even once uttered HER name: Sarah Palin. He didn’t need to – I knew exactly who he was talking about. And he knew that I knew. I have been a Palinista since before McCain announced she would be his running mate. When her name was first mentioned as a possible VP choice, I did a little research and liked what I discovered about this feisty lady from Alaska. I nearly bounced him out of bed when I heard McCain’s official announcement and I spent convention week in Minneapolis in near teenage hysteria as the night for her acceptance speech drew near. One of my most treasured memories will always be that I was there to hear her acceptance speech live – right behind the Alaska delegation and just to the side of the VIP/family section!

I will always be a Palin supporter. Period. And I truly believe that she is destined to be the President of the United States of America. It is a deep-seated knowledge, an unconscious understanding of what is to be that comes with a need to do whatever I can to make it happen. So, to me, it is of little or no import whether she announces in September or October. Or November. Or December. If it is to be it will be. I know that. So I absolutely can’t get worked up over the current media-driven mania over the timing of her announcement. It will happen.

If there is one thing that keeps haunting me it is how much of a sacrifice we are expecting from this woman. For the past three years, she has been villified, excoriated, demonized, and slandered beyond belief – and we are asking her to continue to put herself and her family out there again. It shouldn’t be any wonder that this is not an easy decision for her or for her family. The easy choice, the safe choice, the smart choice for her would be to look us in the eye and say, “No, it’s too much for you to expect from me and my family.” I couldn’t blame her for a minute if she were to do that, but I hope and pray that she will not. The decision, however, is entirely up to her – and she can make it and announce it whenever she dang well pleases.

In the meantime, I’m keeping my powder dry. Because from my perspective, Sarah has been running for President since November, 2008 – the announcement is a mere formality. The timing is tactical not strategic.

Oh, and the spousal unit – by tonight he was a bit more mellow and agreed (as I held his dinner hostage) that the world hadn’t fallen off its axis because Sarah didn’t formally announce her candidacy today. And he admitted that he would still be supporting her and voting for her whenever she does get in the race. I think that’s probably true of most of the people who have been yelling and stomping around these past several days. They’re behaving like kids who just found out that Christmas has been postponed. When they finally get the present they’ve been waiting for, all will be right with the world once more.

I tend to be one of those people who likes to come up with ideas and then leave the implementation to others. I think the medical term for this condition is “lazy”.

Some weeks ago, I signed up on the Organize4Palin website and offered to volunteer in Montana. I’ve received a couple of emails from fellow Palinistas, but basically none of us have exactly moved mountains. Or mole holes, for that matter. So, following in the immortal words of whomever said it first, “If it is to be, then it is up to me,” I am taking the first step in creating this home for Montanans For Palin.

Montana is said to be a small town with very long streets. Only one other state is larger in area and has a smaller population – Alaska! Like Alaska, Montana is a land of rustic beauty – majestic mountains, crystal lakes and rushing streams, and unending skies stretching from horizon to horizon. Oh, and we share similar winter temperatures too.

Politically, Montanans are an independent sort, and our political history is as colorful as our summer sunsets. A little known impact of Montana politics was the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for the direct election of Senators. Although I suspect that there may just be a touch more to the story, the popular version around these parts claims that one of the Copper Kings, William A. Clark, was the impetus for the change from having state legislatures select the members of the Senate.

Clark’s long-standing dream of becoming a United States Senator resulted in scandal in 1899 when it was revealed that he bribed members of the Montana State Legislature in return for their votes. At the time, U.S. Senators were chosen by their respective state legislators; the corruption of his election contributed to the passage of the 17th Amendment. The U.S. Senate refused to seat Clark because of the 1899 bribery scheme, but a later senate campaign was successful, and he served a single term from 1901 until 1907. In responding to criticism of his bribery of the Montana legislature, Clark is reported to have said, “I never bought a man who wasn’t for sale.”

Since then, Montana has entertained generations of its citizens with the goings-on of its political class.

Enough about Montana – this blog is about something even bigger than Big Sky Country. It’s about a grass roots movement of everyday Montanans who believe that politics as usual is no longer an option. It’s about ordinary people who understand that we cannot wait any longer for a fundamental change in where we’re going as a country. This blog is about how a few unimportant, hardworking, sincere patriots can come together to put an end to the corporate, crony capitalism that has driven this nation to the verge of bankruptcy, financially and ethically. Times have changed a lot since the days of the Copper Kings, but the wholesale purchase of our politicians by Big Business, Big Labor, and Big Government goes on unabated.

It’s time for each of us to do whatever we can to elect the only person who isn’t for sale to the interests of crony capitalism – Governor Sarah Palin. This can be our meeting place. C’mon in – there’s lots of room in Big Sky Country.