Going Rogue: An American Life (109 page)

say,
.’Give
up now’?”

Bristol was wide awake now. “You’re always preaching that government ‘can’t make you happy, healthy, wealthy, or wise.’

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Business owners are smarrer rhan poliricians give them credit for, and President Obama is wrong to rhink more government control is the answer. Pay attention to the tea parties, Mom. You’re not alone in this. That’s what they’re saying.”

Bristol’s barista wage: $7.25 an hour.

Her advice to the president (and her mom): priceless. My daughter closed her eyes again as we drove toward Molly’s, and I thought of the long road ahead for Bristol and Tripp. She’d be fine because she was independent and strong and loved to work, and I loved her and her cousin Lauden’s enthusiasric plans to own coffee shops as a’ side business while they were busy going ro school and growing up. But Bristol and Tripp wouldn’t be fine if pandering politicians buffaloed Americans into believing some utopian promise that big government could “fix” everything through more of the same meddling that had caused the economic failure in the first place. I didn’t have a problem with sound, necessary projects to stimulate the economy that could be funded by our tax dollars.
In
Alaska, we’d use infrascructure funds to tackle deferred road maintenance and build access for more resource development. My problem was with the bureaucratic ‘mandates attached to the programmatic part of the package. These were short-term, debtridden funds that would grow state government and hand more states’ tights to the federal government. Many economisrs could see where this was headed. They desctibed these rushed-through, barely read proposals as nothing less than assault on the free

market.

On the campaign trail many had been hesitant to talk about legitimate fears that Obama’s past comments and associations with anti-capitalist radicals would influence his economic policy. The press gave the impression it was the wrong thing to do. I was

“going rogue” when I answered reporters’ questions about candi-

SARAH

PALIN

date Obama’s associations and pals. I wish we had talked mote about them, and about Obama’s close relationship wirh ACORN, rhe voter-fraud specialists. But we did nor elaborare on any of rhar during the campaign.

Americans with common sense and a passing acquaintance with history do not agree that you can build a strong and sound economy by spending money we don’t have and redistributing wealth. Common sense conservatives recognize that nor only is there no justice in taking from one person to give to another, it doesn’t work. Abe Lincoln reminded Americans that you can’t lift up the poor by pushing down the very people who creare jobs for them. The rich will simply move their wealth elsewhere, and the poor will wind up even poorer.

Bristol slept and as I drove I got to think about her furure and the country’s future. America was built on freemarket capitalism, and it is still the best system in the world. No one explained this better than Margaret Thatcher, who noted that there’s no alternative to capitalism because it’s the system that ensures the most prosperity for the most people. Thatcher acknowledged that capitalism is not controllable or even predictable-but neither is
human nature: “Since its inception, capitalism known slumps

and recessions, bubble and froth; no one has yet dis-invented the business cycle, and probably no one will … {What are} called the ‘gales of creative destruction’ still roar mightily from time to time. To lament these things is ulrimately to lamenr the bracing blast of freedom irself”

My cabinet agreed rhar in challenging the srimulus package, we’d have to deal in realiry. Legislators did hold the purse strings, after all, as they reminded us every day. Conservative governors all over the country were getting hammered for questioning use

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of the stimulus funds. Some legislatures, through threats oflitigation, made it impossible to refuse the money. Litigation would be the next step for those either truly wanting to grow government or just wanting to obstruct a conservative agenda. 1 told our missioners we’d have to appeal directly to friendly lawmakers and help educate the others.

1 highlighted a couple of obvious examples, such as the package of funds earmarked for the National Endowment for the Arts inside the general “Education Funds” package. 1 pointed out that there were higher priorities for our kids housed in leaky-roofed classrooms with

teachers than funding more NEA

projects. The other example was universal energy building codes that we’d have to adopt if we accepted a

million earmark for

energy conservation.

“I feel like I’m beating my head against the wall trying to get legislators to understand there are fat strings attached to this,” my Deputy Chief of Staff Randy Ruaro said.

Randy was a smart, mild-mannered young attorney who lived in Juneau. He had adopted an adorable child, a Native boy named Dylan, who played hide-and-seek with Piper in the Capitol hallways when we worked weekends. Randy was frustrated with the legislators’ claims that the federal cash was as good as free money. He printed sections of the stimulus package, as well as current federal energy department guidance, highlighted specific pages, and handed them out to lawmakers and reportets. The documents cleatly stated that acceptance of the funds required the adoption and enforcement of energy . building codes.

Universal building codes-in
Alaska!
A practical, libertarian haven full of independent Americans who did not desire “help” from government busybodies. A state full of hardy pioneers who did not like taking orders from the feds telling us to change our

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PALIN

laws. A state so geographically divetse that one-size-fits-all codes simply wouldn’t work.

I vetoed those building code funds. After a Fairbanks speech on the subject, I knew I’d be criticized for sounding like the mom that I am, but so be it. I had to remind Alaskans one last time of our opportunities: “We don’t have to feel that we must beg an allowance from Washington-except to beg the allowance to be self-determined. See, in order to be self-sufficient, Alaska must be allowed to develop, to drill and build and climb to fulfill our statehood’s promise! At statehood we knew that we were responsible for ourselves and our families and our future, and fifty years later we cannot start believing that government is the answer. It can’t make you happy or healthy or wealthy or wise. What can? It is the wisdom of the people and our families and our small businesses and industrious individuals. And it is God’s grace helping those who help themselves. And then this allows that very generous voluntary ‘hand up’ that we are known to enthusiastically provide those who need it.”

The crowd that attended the speech in the warm Fairbanks sun that day humbled me by giving those words a standing ovation. The unaccustomed warmth must have worn out a few of the legislators in the audience, though, because they remained seated. And just weeks later, after Sean Parnell took over as governor, the Democrat-controlled legislature overrode my veto.