Tuesday, November 9, 2010

An Energetic Palin Brings her Reaganesque Conservative Message to Phoenix

Written by rpatrick on November 8, 2010   

Categories: Archives, Politicians 

Your humble Drunken Conservatives correspondent was smuggled inside the STAFDA (Specialty Tools & Fasteners Distributors Association) trade show in downtown Phoenix to see Sarah Palin give a well-received political speech to an enthusiastic, standing room only crowd.




If you think Palin shies away from politics and gives a more inspirational speech when speaking to a non-political audience; you’re dead wrong.  Palin educated the receptive and huge (2500+) audience on lower taxes and regulation, the Fed’s destructive inflationary policies, and Ronald Reagan.  She was full of political bravado coming off of last Tuesday’s historic Republican gains at all levels in American government. She sought to not only give her message, but also to educate her crowd on what the election signified and what commonsense conservatism means for small business owners and regular working people.

Lower Taxes and Regulation

Palin talked extensively about keeping the Bush tax cuts in place.  She warned the audience that we’re all about to get a huge tax increase, unless the lame-duck Congress acts to keep the current tax cuts in place.  “There’s no tax crisis…” she proclaimed, “…only a spending crisis,” to applause.

She also went further telling the business audience what more tax money in their pocket meant: investment, improvement, and hiring.  She reminded the audience that the President’s Deficit Commission will probably push for a VAT tax and how, on top of our income tax, this would also stifle growth.  Palin also ticked off the various taxes that would be reinstituted or raised January 1st, such as the marriage penalty tax and the capital gains tax.  When she got to the estate tax and argued that it shouldn’t go back to its former rate of 55%, the audience wildly applauded.

Palin said, “The President thinks innovation comes from government subsidies,” and then argued that innovation instead comes from the entrepreneurial spirit of American private industry.  She also pointed out that the Democrats and the White House would try to woo the populace with targeted tax cuts, but explained that when Washington tries to direct how business should spend their own money, it never works.

Palin attacked the stimulus as a boondoggle and saying the only thing it truly stimulated was the tea party movement in America.

Palin also railed against regulation and specifically called for Obamacare’s repeal, which also got thundering applause.  She pointed out that Obamacare was a job killer, an unfunded mandate and contained too much business-strangling regulation such as the coming onerous 1099 form regulations.  She also told the throng that cap-and-trade legislation was the death knell for business and urged perseverance from the business community should that legislation ever raise its head again.

The Fed’s Destructive Policies

Palin talked about the Fed’s QE2 policy announced last week.  If you mention the Fed’s QE2 plan to print more money to monetize our debt, people tend to nod along acting concerned when they really don’t know what it’s all about.  Palin took the time to explain why this policy could potentially be disastrous by talking about the problem of inflation which can ensue from programs like this.  She explained how inflation is a hidden tax that attacks food stuffs and commodities.  She pointed also to examples where government policies to influence money supply occurred and didn’t work, leading to a lost decade of growth in Japan and the hyperinflation of Weimar Republic in Germany.  She also called the timing of the announcement suspicious with the policy coming out a day after the election and also right before the President jetted off to India.

Ronald Reagan

The message of The Gipper is alive and well today in Sarah Palin.  First, she referenced Reagan often throughout her speech and tied in Reagan quotes to illustrate his specific advice of commonsense conservative principles.  She also used Reagan’s example of America as the “shining city on the hill” as a beacon for the world on what is good and right.  Finally, Palin closed out her speech by referring to the recent elections as proof it was “morning in America” again because the people have been awakened.

Palin reminded me of Reagan in the sixties before he was governor.  At that time Reagan was transitioning between his acting days and his political days and was honing his conservative message by speaking to industry and trade groups.  He had a set of note cards with a strong conservative message that he seldom deviated from but would organize in varying ways depending on the audience.

Here was Sarah Palin, speaking from notes (while the STAFDA organization speakers all woodenly used the Teleprompter), to an industry group, and pushing conservative principles.  She was engaging and explanatory.  Both Reagan then and Rush Limbaugh today know that most people will agree with conservatism, but it has to be taught.  One has to educate people on conservative principles and show, in real-world examples, how tax cuts benefit people, or how soaking the “rich” and businesses through taxation and regulation leads to stagnation in our economy.

Sarah Palin had some of humorous sparkle that Reagan had; that twinkle in the eye.  She poked fun at herself for writing notes on her hand.  She told the audience Todd really wanted to be there because of his love for tools, but that it was his duty this week to be in California to cheer on their daughter Bristol on Dancing with the Stars.  She also told folksy stories of exchanging power tools and gas cards with her husband for Christmas presents up in Alaska.

I liked Sarah Palin immediately out of the gate in 2008 when she ran for VP on Johnny Mac’s ticket.  It was probably the only thing that kept me from staying home and not voting that fall.  I’ve cooled a little on her recently, but seeing her in person, explaining those commonsense, pro-business, and conservative ideals made me appreciate her more as a force in American politics we haven’t seen the last of just yet.

-R. Patrick Sullivan

The Drunken Conservatives