Jeremy E. Sarber

This morning, I wore one of my Sarah Palin shirts to the hardware store. While I was checking out, the female cashier noticed my shirt and this conversation ensued:

CASHIER: So you’re a Sarah Palin fan, huh?

ME: (enthusiastically) I sure am.

CASHIER: I was too. I hated to hear the news about her.

At this point, I’m thinking, Oh no. What happened? I don’t remember them saying anything on the news this morning.

ME: What do you mean?

CASHIER: Well, with her quitting as governor, she’s probably ruined her chances of becoming president.

I was a bit taken back by this. She was an obvious Palin-supporter. What could possibly persuade her away from believing Sarah Palin has a chance on the national stage?

ME: Would you still vote for her if she ran for president?

CASHIER: I guess so. I just think there are a lot of people who won’t because she quit.

That’s when it hit me. This woman doesn’t believe Sarah Palin committed “political suicide”. In fact, she doesn’t think one hair less of Sarah Palin. But she’s been inundated with stories of Palin’s so-called political suicide from the mainstream media, beltway politicians, and liberal-thinkers who would love to see a strong conservative woman’s political career like Palin’s destroyed.

ME: What makes you believe that?

CASHIER: Well, people say she’s a quitter now so what would she do as president? You know, that kind of thinking.

At this point, I have paid for my items but I was not about to let this conversation die here.

ME: Keep this in mind. Barack Obama barely won the popular vote in this last election and that’s in light of it being such an historic election. Those who strongly disapprove of the job he’s doing now is greater than those who strongly approve. A recent poll said that 41 percent of Americans identify themselves as conservatives while only 21 percent are liberal. I imagine even some of those liberals are not as extremely left as President Obama. When the media and politicians on TV tell you that Sarah Palin has committed political suicide, they are not telling you what America believes. They are telling you what they want you to believe. It seems Sarah Palin cannot draw a crowd less than 20,000 people wherever she shows up while our Vice President can hardly draw a crowd of five hundred. I do not know one Palin-supporter who has been dissuaded by what she’s done. On the contrary, Palin has possibly done one of the most brilliant moves of her career. She did what no one expected and probably betrayed every bit of political advice she’s ever gotten.

CASHIER: But is that a good thing?

ME: Let me ask you something. Are you happy with the way Washington has been doing things throughout your life?

CASHIER: Probably not.

ME: So why does it make sense for us to think like them and limit ourselves to the rules they have established? They are the ones who made the rule that if someone like Palin quits, even if for valid reasons, we should never vote her in again to any level of government. But if we are dissatisfied with the status quo they have created, then why would we listen to them or their media helpers?

I am not kidding when I say I could see the revelation in her face as what I said registered in her mind. It was as if she was thinking, Wow. I never thought of it that way. The media has been telling me what to believe and what’s worse, I’ve been believing it.

CASHIER: You’re right. That really changes your perspective, doesn’t it?