Posted on 07/09/2009 10:50:24 PM PDT by Jacob Kell
For we may well be guided by those fundamental principles of justice which I laid down at the outset: first, that no harm be done to anyone; second, that the common interests be conserved. When these are modified under changed circumstances, moral duty also undergoes a change, and it does not always remain the same. For a given promise or agreement may turn out in such a way that its performance will prove detrimental either to the one to whom the promise has been made or to the one who has made it.
– Cicero, De Officiis I. x.
In the speech announcing her decision to resign as Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin made an argument that tracks with Cicero reasoning as to the requirements of moral duty. This was entirely appropriate. Though officeholders are inclined to forget its derivation, the word "office" has its root in the Latin word from which Cicero's treatise on duty takes its name. Someone who takes an office undertakes a duty. The oath of office is the public and solemn vow to fulfill that duty.
Palin argues that the circumstances of her promise changed because others practiced "the politics of personal destruction" after "August 29th last year – the day John McCain tapped me to be his running mate ... . The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice … all of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We've won! But it hasn't been cheap – the state has wasted thousands of hours of your time and shelled out some two million of your dollars to respond to "opposition research"… . And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn't cost them a dime so they're not going to stop draining public resources ... ."
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Your guy is about to get pounded, methinks
kyes lost to obama, now it’s sarah’s turn
The Palin Amen Chorus will now brand Keyes a traitor and a RINO and boycott WND.
Perhaps people should file ethics complaints against Alan Keyes and wipe his bank account dry, see how he likes it
But his whole point is that the fact she couldn’t fore see it constitute a failure on her part.
One that point, I think Keyes has a point. The ethics law in Alaska was probably ill conceived if it could be so easily abused.
I don’t agree with his overall point though. Sometimes soldiers do pull back from their post, it’s called a tactical retreat. In the end the goal is to win the war, and sometimes retreats from one front of the war to fight another is necessary for victory. Keyes seems to be implying that a tactic retreat is the same thing as desertion.
So Sarah Palin is stepping down as governor of Alaska. This is really making some media reporters and RINOs happy. They absolutely cannot stand a woman who is married to the father of her five children, religious, good looking, articulate, smart, experienced in running a city and state, and who helped operate a profitable business with her husband.
That she’s not a minority, homosexual, or chose not to kill her handicapped baby just can’t be tolerated.
Someone burned down the church she attended. David Letterman told a filthy joke about her 14-year-old daughter on national television, and people are making fun of her Down-Syndrome baby.
She and her husband also are being bankrupted defending spurious charges against her by people who don’t agree with her.
I don’t understand why decent people (and especially women) are not rioting in the street. What’s wrong with being decent and successful any more?
This country is going to Hell. ... If good people do not start defending decent individuals, especially women running for political office, we’ll soon be back to a Third World country — where many of the so-called talking heads and Democrats seem to want us to be.
Keyes is a media whore
Amazing the delusional folks on FR who think Keyes who receiving around 59,000 votes could beat a candidate
who would receive millions of votes.
Defending against a tsunami of frivolous ethics complaints filed against her by political enemies wasn’t exactly part of the job description.
And this guy is going to lecture Sarah about duty and dereliction? Hey Alan, try getting a real job.
I see your point and Keys and well taken! I still support Sarah Palin though! This might harm her though! I hope not!
BTTT
It’s just that Keyes is quick to judge Sarah without walking the proverbial mile in her shoes, IMO.
I wonder what the taxpayers of Alaska would think of the only alternative, Sarah staying and making a heroic attempt to get the loophole plugged (presumably by calling an emergency session of the legislature). All the while incurring more of these bogus ethics pot shots for every step of it.
I don’t think he would like it much. He might have to get a real job.
Keyes is sometimes brilliant, but more often bonkers, and the bonkers/brilliance ratio seems to be increasing.
Were the Lieutanant Governor a liberal or had different views than Palin, then Keyes might have a point, but since he will push for everything Palin was pushing for, Keyes is talking out of his rear end. So is everyone else who is claiming that Palin “abandoned” Alaskans.
Keyes is singularly unhelpful here. He should just zip his lip.
Keyes would be about the only Republican who could lose running against Obama in 2012.
Keyes....the man who ran on reparations for blacks. the man that lost to Obama by what, 50 points or something crazy. Oh Alan, don’t be throwing stones.
Well we dug him up and propped him up in Ill-noise. Now he won’t go away.
Alan Keyes is a RINO, a shill for the Democrats and elitist who eats babies and worships Satan. I think that covers all of them...or, and he’s a Romneybot.
Alaska is still in good hands, with the added benefit of having the leftists neutered from their destructive leverage. Sarah will be better positioned to fight the leftists on a nationwide scale. This is a winning decision for Alaska, for Palin, and conservatives nationwide, and a tremendous setback for all the leftist ankle-biters, including the RINO backstabbers.
(July 9, 2009 Anchorage, AK) – Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell today announced his cabinet and senior leadership team. Parnell will bring Palin’s top advisers with him when he takes the oath of office July 26th.
“I promised a seamless and steady transition,” Parnell said. “These folks know what they’re doing. They’ve moved our state forward. That’s why I’ve asked them to stay.”
Parnell’s cabinet will include:
Commissioner of Administration, Annette Kreitzer
Commissioner of Commerce, Emil Notti
Commissioner of Corrections, Joe Schmidt
Commissioner of Education and Early Development, Larry LeDoux
Commissioner of Environmental Conservation, Larry Hartig
Commissioner of Fish and Game, Denby Lloyd
Commissioner of Health and Social Services, Bill Hogan
Commissioner of Labor, Click Bishop
Commissioner of Natural Resources, Tom Irwin
Commissioner of Public Safety, Joe Masters
Commissioner of Revenue, Patrick Galvin
Commissioner of Transportation, Leo von Scheben
Attorney General Dan Sullivan
Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Commissioner Lieutenant General Craig Campbell has been designated to become Lieutenant Governor and a new Adjutant General will be named in the future.
“Lieutenant Governor Parnell has earned our trust and respect by being a strong leader behind the scenes,” said DEC Commissioner Larry Hartig. “Now the rest of Alaska will get a closer look at the competence we’ve known all along.”
In addition, Chief of Staff Mike Nizich, Deputy Chief of Staff Randy Ruaro, Office of Management and Budget Director Karen Rehfeld, and Legislative Liaison Jerry Gallagher have all agreed to stay with the Parnell administration.
“I am very pleased that this experienced and committed group of public servants has agreed to continue their good work for Alaskans,” Parnell said.
I already dismiss WND, they lack original reporting and suffer from fringe writers.
KEYES failed to beat obama he can offer no advice.
Sarah will not.
FTR, Keyes agreed to run against Obama 86 days before the general election because the GOP asked him to. And he is the only politician willing to stand up and demand that Obama release his birth certificate, joining a lawsuit to do it.
I like alan, but when it comes to real life politics and governoring, he’s lost.
86 days or no, he took the job and failed miserbaly, he has no room to talk
I had believed that Keyes agreeing to run against Obama in the US Senate race was an act of courage but I have changed my thinking. Keyes may have been the perfect foil to run against the lightweight Obama. Keyes antics during that camoaign actually gave Obama a patina of gravitas. IMO Keyes may be just another loser political huckster from the right side. Same goes for WND!
Alan, I consider your performance in the ‘04 Illinois Senate election, even given your late entry, even given the reasons the Illinois GOP needed to invite you in for that late entry, to constitute dereliction of duty. So you might want to think twice before you start hurling that accusation at anybody else.
Cicero is obviously a flack on Mitt Romney’s campaign staff.
my guess is that they see the error in the law and will amend it....
LLS
LLS
According to Haley Barbour the gop told him they would back him... big difference.
LLS
That’s alright. He can take it.
Governor Palin is going through what Alan already went through long ago at the hands of the Alinskyite Left and of the Republicans. (But I repeat myself...)
Let’s see if she has the character to still be standing, boldly stating what she believes, after years of it.
86 days before a general election is not a lot of time to win in a Democrat dominated state, esp considering that he wasn't even from there. I didn't see anyone else stepping up to try. For example, Mike Ditka could have prevented this whole Obama mess now by running. Once again the GOP got owned by Democrats playing hardball: Obama and his minions had his primary opponent's divorce records released and his GOP opponent's custody records released. I wouldn't lay that on Keyes.
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