Posted on 10/05/2011 8:05:41 PM PDT by nathanbedford
Here are a few thoughts from one of the Hobbits (as Sen. McCain called the Tea Party members) on the announcement by Gov. Sarah Palin that she will not be running for the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination. I borrow heavily from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings trilogy.
Frodo described the effects on himself of bearing the Ring as follows: “But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: someone has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.”
Frodo indeed gave up all that he loved, during the journey, and afterwards. But he did it in order to save it for others. Is there anyone reading this who can question for a second all that it has cost Palin to carry the torch of Freedom and Conservatism thus far?
And yet — Frodo was not the only hero in the story. His sacrifice and heroism would have been useless, and indeed a waste, if they had not been answered by the equally noble response of Aragorn. His path, prophesied from of old, led him to wander afar for many years, away from his betrothed, in the face of great danger, alone, and friendless; to face the Dark Lord Himself in the palantír, through the Paths of the Dead; and finally, in a seemingly futile charge against the impregnable gates of Mordor, surrounded by a Sea of Foes, “ten times and more than ten times their match.” Frodo’s sacrifice in carrying the Ring has been answered by another sacrifice, of the Army of the West yielding up their lives, if necessary, to buy Frodo the time to complete his quest. As Aragorn whispers / calls to his compatriots over his shoulder before the final charge, in the Peter Jackson film adaptation of the books, “For Frodo!”(*)
And the actions of Frodo, Aragorn, and the Army of the West and their allies may be taken as a sign and an example for all of us today. An ancient saying, on the Seal of the United States, is the phrase E Pluribus Unum — “out of many, one.” It of course refers to the Free Republic founded by our Constitution, the United States of America: but it also describes all patriots who work together united for a common purpose.
Many people feel personally dismayed, if not crushed, by Palin’s decision not to seek the Presidency. But we need to be reminded of the words of St. Paul “...we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” And this need not be a statement of mere stoic defiance as quoted in The Battle of Maldon either. St. Paul had his eyes on a higher goal, and so should we.
Let us recall who and what Sarah Palin is, what she represents, and who we are. Many of us have grown increasingly frustrated at the selfish, secular, grasping, manipulative, controlling thing which it seems our government has become; and we are perplexed at the large number of our fellow citizens who seemingly enjoy exerting themselves onto to the extent of complaining or demanding even more benefits at others’ expense. What has happened to the “can-do” American spirit, which conquered the Continent and sent a man to the Moon? Sarah Palin seemed to be a reminder of the hardy pioneer spirit, coming from a state with a true frontier wilderness, Alaska; a reminder of Americans who believed in and practiced self-determination, and said “No!” to an ever-expanding government; a reminder of the best of citizens stepping forward to participate in the government, rather than using government merely as a means to self-enrichment (either as recipients of largesse, or as despots and functionaries).
Why, then, should we be dismayed that she has decided not to seek higher office? We know that our hopes were never merely on her; in fact, our hopes were in our fellow citizens, that they too would catch a glimpse of the vision she raised, and work with her and with us to RESTORE our society and our government to the vision of the founders. One might even say, that by declining to run for President, Sarah Palin has removed herself as a temptation for us to rely on her alone, as too many Americans rely on government alone, to provide their needs.
Let us take a moment, then, to catch our breath; to recall the 2010 elections, where, without a President Palin, and in the face of FAR higher odds (a seemingly annointed, non-scandal-ridden Obama; an all-but-insurmountable deficit in the Senate, and no control of the House of Representatives), WE THE PEOPLE arose and began the work of reclaiming the government as our own.
And then, with that work done, let us proceed, as in the Lord of The Rings, to the Scouring of the Shire.
For SARAH!
(*) It is interesting in this regard, that the memes used by our enemies are but a pale mockery of the true themes of nobility and goodness and love. For President Obama has called for “shared sacrifice” meaning a greater plunder of the successful by himself and his minions; but in the acts of Frodo and of Aragorn we see the true meaning of shared sacrifice, stated in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
A year or so I ago I read about the story that ranked which states were the most free and the least free. Alaska was #1.
THANK YOU!! to grey whiskers... and nathan bedford
for sarah for liberty
Well written.
For Sarah it is, then!
There is a major problem with your analogy to Frodo’s quest in the Lord of the Rings. While Frodo struggled against the Dark Lord of Mordor, Aragorn led legions in a seemingly doomed attack to divert Sauron’s gaze from Frodo’s seemingly equally hopeless task.
Where was Sarah Palin’s Aragon? Where were the legions of brave warriors riding to what appeared to be an inevitable doom to aid her quest. During the days after Tucson, and in every other incident when the MSM and the literati literally went crazy in their loating and vilification of Palin, what did Romney say in her defense. NOTHING. When did Perry speak up for her. NEVER. When Casper Milquetoast Pawlenty was queried about the target map, he mumbled that, well, it wasn’t his style. Oh, you say, I remember Bachmann speaking up for her frequently. YOU REMEMBER WRONG. Cain’s silence was DEAFENING. Don’t remember Gingrich speaking up.
Pick another story to analogize. The Lord of the Rings doesn’t work.
What will be fun to watch is what will start tomorrow. You’ll hear the Romney campaign whittering about what a brave and courageous spokesperson for conservative values Palin is, and he’ll likely condemn the savaging that was dished out on her. Ditto the Perry camp, and Cain, and the others, all desperately seeking her endorsement.
Look also for Coulter, and Frum, and Ingraham, and Brooks, and maybe even Trotter, all of whom have dissed Palin for years and as recently as in the last week or so, to begin furiously penning columns professing how much they love Palin, and how they hope she will be able to inspire the masses to support the GOP in ousting Obama and electing a solid candidate. They love her as a cheerleader, not as a leader.
I wouldn’t be surprised to even see a flattering article or two in the New York and LA Times as they pen postmortems on the whole affair. There will not, of course, be any apologies or retractions.
I for one appreciated this post. Thanks. I thought it was spot on.
While she was on Greta tonight, her mouth was saying she wasn’t running, but her eyes said she wanted to. She does want to right the wrongs going on in America. And she can not do it herself. WE have to stand up, speak up, support imperfect but conservative candidates and vote...
Of course, Greta condescendingly told her ‘she was young’ and could potentially run in the future...I’m sure she’ll get the same media treatment, unless Americans stand up against this corrupt government and corrupt media.
Might be better for her right now. Whoever gets the job, it’s going to be Hell.
Palin has flown the coop, but left a deposit on the birdcage liner *PING*
The only thing GOP wants from Sarah is her donor list and volunteer list.
Wrote this at 4:30 this afternoon central time, but couldn't get home to post.
Thanks for posting for me, nathan.
Well written! I would love to share this with friends — of whom should I request permission?
It is a call for Palin backers and other conservatives, for *us*, to be that Aragorn: to press on against the enemy, even if it seems hopeless without Sarah; even as Aragorn and the Army of the West pressed on after being given Frodo's mithril coat, thinking his quest had failed.
Palin laid it on the line for America; can we not do the same to honor her effort?
Cheers!
Cheers!
The details may not fit, but fundamentally, after nearly a century of statist control of the Federal goverment, from Wilson to Obama, with respites under Coolidge, Hoover, Eisenhower and Reagan (no, Nixon and the Bushes were not respites, unless statist-lite counts as a respite from full on statism), American conservatism must itself be patterned on Frodo’s quest: the renunciatory quest to destroy power, rather than seize or wield it.
The problem with “establishment Republicans” is they want to follow in Saruman’s footsteps, fancying they can wield the power of the Federal government bloated beyond the bounds set by the Constitution “wisely”, not seeing that like the Ring, it corrupts all who try to control it, or even desire to use it.
Let Gov. Palin be our Galadriel, who refused the Ring, and aided the Fellowship. Our Frodo has to be the one who goes down into the Mordor Washington has become and destroys the Ring of extra-constitutional powers and deficit spending.
Do not look to the minions of Mordor to rally to Frodo’s side. The political leaders to a man and a woman are without merit. Not one can stand for truth. Sarah does have a throng beside her. It is not those who are corrupted by a bloated government. It is you and me and all the other TP members who see the evil thing our government and its leaders have become. They are Mordor and their reign of horror must be ended. We will defeat them and we will rebuild our nation by controlling our representatives and requiring them to do what is right and just for our country. Maybe Sarah does havwe a lesson to teach us about leadership. It does not come through a title but by standing with the power of God, of Family and of our beloved Constitution.
That was when Frodo suffered the assault by the Morgul-knife in the dark at Weathertop...
Cheers!
You know, I must admit—you’re quite right. None of them defended her, and she was attacked brutally.
Not sure what to think of this yet. Right now, it seems unforgiveable.
You just went all Lloyd Bentsen on them:
"I know Sarah Palin. I worked for Sarah Palin. Rick Perry/Mitt Romney/Newt Gingrich/Michele Bachmann/Ron Paul/Rick Santorum/Whatshisname Huntsman, you're no Sarah Palin."
"...Herman Cain, come see me in my office after the debate."
Cheers!
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