Palin on ticket is monumental for Alaska

Aug. 29, 2008 was a hallmark in Alaska’s political history. Not only was our governor selected as the Republican running mate, but she was the first woman in history to have such an honor as a Republican.

About time.

Better still is the fact that Alaska’s presence will be raised to the national stage across the board. For the first time, Alaska will have an advocate at the top executive level in our government.

Not since former Gov. Walter Hickel’s appointment as Secretary of the Interior under President Richard Nixon has Alaska had such an opportunity to have our issues heard and advocated outside of our small — and now, with the legal questions raised by indictments and ongoing investigations, compromised — Congressional delegation.

Yes, Sarah Palin’s selection was good fortune for both the Palins and Alaska.

The Republican Party gained an attribute in the presidential race that erased the prospect of another dull and dreary Republican candidacy comprised of well-known names within the beltway, but insiders disconnected with the mainstream of Americans in their beliefs and outlook.

Sarah Palin will draw the conservative wing of the party back to support the ticket that many of us would have been forced to vote for because of party and philosophy, but were not pleased with given McCain’s liberal tendencies.

Pro-life is a welcome stand for many of us.

While good for the Republican ticket and the Palin clan, what is the portent for Alaska with Sarah taking this opportunity? What will be the outcome of the political void left by her going for the gold? What will become of the Palin revolution that so many of us who supported Sarah believed in? That revolution promised a return to smaller government, fiscal constraint, the Constitution and not a judge being the final arbiter in whether or not something is a function of government.

Alaska will benefit by having a powerful advocate in the Executive Branch at the very top, just under the president — a voice that will be hard to ignore by Congress and hard to ignore by a bureaucracy used to having its way. Finally, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will get attention across the board as part of a solution to end our reliance upon foreign energy sources. Further, Sarah will have the opportunity to inform our Congress about the damage from the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) that prevents us from building roads and creating a rational transportation infrastructure throughout the state. No other state in the union has been so encumbered as has Alaska by the restrictions against trespass and rights of way contained in ANILCA.

The political void in Alaska is what is intriguing.

I believe that our lieutenant governor will have to end his candidacy for Don Young’s seat. Governor Parnell will be too much to pass up. Unfortunately, Sean Parnell is part of the problem, not a solution. He is just a long-term legislator who will maintain the status quo rather than keep to the Palin revolution tenets of smaller government.

I believe that state Sen. Lyda Green will end the investigation into former Department of Public Safety commissioner Walt Monaghan’s firing. What’s the point? Sarah is gone. The benefit to Alaska is just too great to sully by internecine political games.

The Wooten affair will pass into history for the same reasons.

The Palin revolution is dead as of Friday, the day Sarah Palin became vice-president-to-be Sarah Palin.

I fear the status quo will again be the standard and the constitutions of the state of Alaska and that of the United States will continue to be compromised by liberal judges and socialist legislators. Spending will be without constraint until we face a choice of ending the Permanent Fund Dividend program out of need. Only then will we the people demand responsibility and accountability from our government. After all, who kept sending criminals back to Juneau and to Washington, D.C.?

The bright spot in this is that we now have a VP candidate that is Alaskan first and always. A very good thing, indeed.

Larry Wood is a Palmer resident.