Renew, Restore and Reconsider

When they turn the pages of history
When these days have passed long ago
Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow
We turned our gaze
From the castles in the distance
Eyes cast down
On the path of least resistance



Conservatives4Palin has posted a Reconsider Project Ideas Open Thread on their website. The Palin movement is bubbling right now with calls for Governor Palin to reconsider running for the presidency. There are some stinging realities to overcome if this discussion is to result in a concerted final effort to get her to reconsider, but there is a good argument for going through with this effort nonetheless.

In order to get to this good argument, this writer has to be blunt and will for the sake of this post express strong feelings and sentiments that are deeply rooted in this blogger's firm conviction that Sarah Palin is the one we've been looking for. Anything written is written with all of the love and all of the most due respect that I have for the Governor as a leader and a potentially transformational political figure.

Here are the facts. Sarah Palin has made a decision that she believes is best for her and her family. Leaders make decisions, stick to those decisions and act on those decisions no matter what. Major primary filing deadlines have passed or will be passing shortly (Florida and South Carolina or already closed). There are millions of Americans who were looking to her to run and help save the country, and these people just don't see any alternative even with Palin out of the race.

Here are the analyticals. Our country is being destroyed by Barack Obama, the Democrat Party and the progressive movement. Whether you believe it is intentional or simply because of bad policy and mistaken assumptions, the fact remains that the country's moral and economic foundations are collapsing. There is no one in the Republican field right now who offers us that much more beyond a simple defeat of Obama. While most of the candidates could potentially stop the bleeding by beating Obama, our troubles are so deep that it will take a decade or more to recover without radical relentless reform and the psychological optimism that would come from a leader who would continue to be a daily reminder of where we need to go. None of what the candidates are offering does that.

Here is what we want to say to Sarah Palin but won't because we care about her and respect her right to make decisions about her own life. For three years, we all busted our asses - including her - to fight the socialism and the president's agenda. Although Governor Palin has always said its not about her, the fact remains that she is our leader, our voice. We are doing it for her and our country, and we will continue to fight for our country even if it means having to tell Governor Palin over and over again that we need her.

She has always been the point person for everything her supporters believe. We are her supporters because her words and her political philosophy are ours. We fought the smear campaign against her, promoted her to a media-brainwashed nation and quite frankly I think we won that battle. She in return acknowledged that we had her back and she in return fought hard for the cause using her position as a public speaker, Fox News analyst and writer to push back on the liberal onslaught. She gave us the hope and motivation to carry on even when the winds were howling in our face and the snow was holding back the foot that's slow.

We kept on. We kept on because we believed that there was no one else in America who could help us save this country. We don't want to throw it all on her shoulders. We would never vote for her and say go get em while we sat back home watching sports and eating Bon Bons the way we did when George W. Bush was president. We dropped the ball. We assumed the grown ups would always win.

The days of assuming that the person we voted for was going to do it alone or that the grown ups would always be in charge are over. We let Bush get smeared alone. We didn't blog, tweet or Facebook about the impending financial crises. We were asleep at the switch. We learned our lesson with the election of Obama. We woke up because a woman from Alaska came down here and told it to us like it was and from that point forward we willing to give our all for her.

This time it was going to be different. This time, a president Palin was going to have an army on the ground throughout her administration keeping the media in line and promoting the cause friend to friend, house to house. That's what it was like when Reagan was president and that's what it was going to be like again!

Then she broke our hearts by not running. Yes, we respect her decision. I know she asked how her supporters who trusted her on everything else would question this one decision. Well, let me explain why. When you are as humble as Sarah Palin; when you are not able to see yourself the way others see you; and when you just don't know how much this really means to so many people, it doesn't make you a bad person nor should she not have the right to make a decision her future or her family. Her problem is she simply is not seeing her own greatness.

Does she really think that there's someone else out there that can give us the optimism and the hope that she can? Does she really believe that any of the other candidates can succeed in renewing and restoring America like she can? We don't need a title? She doesn't need a title? Someone needs a title. We're doing it for each other. This is our country. Governor Palin represents our country and we are its citizens.

Karen Allen at PalinTwibe sums up how she feels and although she doesn't speak for all Palinistas, many (including this writer) can relate to what she wrote.

I know where I am at the moment - nowhere. Truthfully, I feel a little like a woman without a country, destined to float the seas with no news of my homeland. This isn't a "Woe is me, Palin left us, waaaaah" kind of feeling. It's a "I don't recognize this political scene" feeling.

None of the other candidates represents our vision of our country the way Sarah Palin does. This thing is a shining city on a hill that is the beacon of freedom for the rest of this God forsaken world. We are the unique bearers of a historical calling to be an example to the rest of the world how great free people can be. Sarah, it's your country. We want you to have it. We know you can take the best care of it.

You don't trust something as huge and as in danger as America is to just anyone. This is not about someone digging up something stupid from Palin's past or smearing her in the media. This is not about stupid sound bytes in a 90 minute debate. This is not about people on the Left getting their panties in a wad. Screw them. They don't really like our country anyway. This is not about shackling yourself to a job that the media and the political class will curse you over for the next 8 years. This is about history remembering the first woman president for saving it the way Lincoln and Washington did.

So if we grab Governor Palin by the shoulders, shake her and beg her to reconsider, it's not because we're trying to be disrespectful. It's not because we're trying to invade her life. It's not about what the people in the Palin army have sacrificed to support her. This time was not wasted. It made our lives better and the movement goes on. This is about America.

Maybe having statues erected to you, airports named after you and having your name mentioned amongst the greats doesn't appeal to someone with a servant's heart. Maybe having access to all the world's secrets, having planes and staff at your beck and call or being called Madame President doesn't appeal to someone like Sarah Palin. That's fine. But ask yourself one thing: where will America end up if she doesn't lead it? There's the good argument for reconsidering.

It may be a sisyphusian effort. Some may say we're wasting our time. But, we should go forward with a reconsideration movement even if it doesn't change Governor Palin's mind. History must record that if the day comes when America as we know it no longer exists that we didn't just give up on Sarah Palin. "If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."

Renew, Restore and Reconsider or lest we say a farewell to kings.