| | Sarah Palin, zealot or free marketeer?
From TIA Daily:
"When she became governor of Alaska, she asked her childhood pastor for a verse from the Bible. Did she ask about the Bible's view on birth control, or homosexuality, or taxes, or any overtly political topic? No, he says, "She asked for a biblical example of people who were great leaders and what was the secret of their leadership." That's more Steven Covey than Jerry Falwell.
"Barack Obama's religious associations—think of Jeremiah Wright and his "black liberation theology"—are much more disturbing.
"Moreover, Governor Palin has soft-pedaled her religious views so far in the campaign. In the big speech that introduced her at the Republican convention, she didn't even mention abortion. In Charles Gibson's ABC interview, when he misquoted her as saying that the Iraq war was "a task that is from God," she replied that "I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words." And when asked what she thinks God's plan for the world is, her reply was very revealing: "I believe that there is a plan for this world and that plan…[is] for every country to be able to live and be protected with inalienable rights that I believe are God-given, Charlie, and I believe that those are the rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Which is to say that she agrees with John Locke and Thomas Jefferson. This is the typical American "religion of the pursuit of happiness"—the combination of religious faith with the Enlightenment view of happiness as the proper goal of human life and freedom as the essence of the proper political system.
"In short, if Palin has a radical religious agenda, it remains unstated.
"If she is not a religious zealot, is Governor Palin a pro-free-marketer? Evidence for this comes from the refutation of an early rumor that Palin campaigned for the arch-religious conservative Pat Buchanan in 1996; in fact, she campaigned for Steve Forbes, the most pro-free-market candidate in that year's Republican primary."
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