Ms. Palin

Not much of a revolutionary

Sarah Palin's family at the Republican National Convention

Former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin has an article on the Wall Street Journal where she talks about health care. There are many interesting things about this article - I won't go into the content, but rather the style.

Firstly, it contrasts with many of her Facebook articles, which are like short research pieces replete with footnotes. Her WSJ article is almost a call to action for "ordinary" Americans. Yet, Facebook is a networking website, more in line with the type of article she wrote for WSJ. So, unpredictable Sarah is going against the grain once again, using an informal setting to distribute her more formal articles.

I think this is a clever strategy, since it pulls in many ordinary readers who would not be attracted to WSJ. And it also gives credibility to Palin, since she's using Facebook more like the WSJ than an informal networking site.

But, the more interesting part is this. At the end of her WSJ article, her name is signed off as Ms. Palin. I suppose there are very few options left. "Former governor" reminds people of her strange resignation from state politics. She is no longer a vice presidential candidate, nor is she the Vice President, thus calling her "Former vice presidential candidate" would again remind people of the negatives.

But, why not Mrs. Palin? Why resort to the Ms. title which is more liberal than conservative, more feminist than traditional? Well, Ms. Palin is neither conservative nor traditional. In fact, she is a member of an organization titled "Feminists for Life" whose anti-abortion platform also supports single motherhood (including single mother college girls), and motherhood and careers, amongst other things. In keeping with that membership, Palin became the focus of a strange video called "I am Sarah Palin" taped by prominent "conservative" women of the non-MSM. For anyone versed with feminist history, this "slogan" strongly resembles the hard-core feminist song "I am woman, hear me roar," with lyrics like this:

If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

So, why not Mrs. Palin? Well, a Mrs. Palin would not have the frazzled family life that Palin clearly has, with a daughter who is a single mother. The father of this grandchild was recently interviewed on Vanity Fair and voiced his experiences – mostly negative - with the Palin family. I don’t know how true or false his statements are, but surely Palin contributed to this young man’s anger (and betrayal) when she used him to placate her daughter, allowing them to do many things including sharing a bedroom together in her mansion in Alaska. The ironic part is that the article is titled (tongue-in-cheek, perhaps, and referring to other pop culture moments) "Me and Mrs. Palin."

A Mrs. Palin would have concentrated more on her family than her career, give or take our human tendency to err even in the best of conditions. As bloggers and even a few MSM conservative writers have noted, a Mrs. Palin would have most likely avoided the difficult family circumstances which now seems her lot. In fact, there are regular circulating rumors that her marriage is not as stable as it looks.

But, even if she had taken family first, and run for these political positions later in life after Track, Trig and Willow are grown, keeping a Mrs. before her name would give her a different approach to politics than a Ms. I can imagine she would actually be more conservative, more traditional, and with fewer contradictions between her label as a conservative, and her behavior as one. She might even have been a truer role model to the women who are trying to grapple the incredible pressures they face as working women with young families in tow. She might have been a true conservative.

Using a Mrs. would actually be a revolutionary act, which would alter her (and women’s) state of mind, liberating us out of the feminist hole which we’re all trapped in. Imagine, liberation and revolution, all in one sentence, and having nothing to do with feminism or the 1960s.

For more blog posts I did on Sarah Palin go here, here, here, here,  here, and here. And my article at the American Thinker is here. It looks like I took her seriously from the beginning.