The Flame of Youth Burns Bright

For a young person, it’s both an anxious and hopeful time. Not fully versed yet in the intricacies of how a culture or a society works or how government functions, the young person goes on an instinct which drives an intellectual curiosity that leads them to answers. I hear on the news how bad our economy is and how our military standing in the world is in decline. There is inflation, unemployment and talk of hard times ahead. What does this really mean?

In the search for answers, I find there is a leader out there who is talking about getting government off our backs and reawakening our sense of self reliance and entrepreneurship. As a high school student, I am eager to listen to anyone who is talking about getting authority off my back, and love the frequency with which this leader uses the word freedom and other variations of the word free.

Always misunderstood, the youth of America are looked upon as naive or ignorant. The more I'm told that the adult world is a functional place which requires me to behave myself, the more confused I become. The more I think about it, the more something doesn’t look right. I am beginning to question the adult world and in my own mind, I’m thinking its a bunch of bull. But what does a snot nosed kid know anyway?

I was taught through a Catholic upbringing and through the values of my parents about this functional world where people could have fun and get a little crazy from time to time, but for the most part most (in my mind at least) it was supposed to be about operating with a moral compass, working hard, developing healthy relationships and eventually getting married and raising a family.

I later find out that the adults gave it to me all wrong. They told me I'd be growing up into a world where people have to be moral, ethical, mentally focused, disciplined and be able to handle freedom with responsibility. Instead, when I open up the door and look outside into the adult world, it's nothing but people just getting by and a bunch of liberals running around with their moral relativism, antipathy toward prayer and religion and reckless ways of spending the public's money while running a "gangsta government." Even the culture is a mess. This isn't what I was told it would be like.

All the thoughts in my mind were changing. My view of the world was becoming more reality based and less fantasy based.

Ah, to be young. Young people like to rebel. To me, non-conformity meant being different than the norm. What I didn’t realize is that the norm was actually no longer the norm anymore. In so many people's quests for non-conformity, they have become the norm. The counter culture in essence has become the culture.

Tie dye shirts, pink and purple hair, freaky rings in people’s faces became too status quo for me. The world was becoming a freak show until I realized, hey wait a minute, I'm the freak. I’m the one who thinks these crazy things about a functioning world where freedom comes with responsibility. I’m the one dressed funny in jeans and a polo shirt. I stick out like a sore thumb in a sea of tie dyeds and nose rings. Ah, but I have a major edge here. In a world of morally and ethically challenged morons, being what we used to call "normal" now automatically makes me a non-conformist. I'm the counter culture now.

I would eventually go on to college and be told how wrong and crazy I was after embracing a political philosophy that doesn't match a dysfunctional world. Logic tells me it should work, but there are so many morons out there doing it a totally different way, I can't help but to wonder if I'm the one who's nuts. As people tell me I'm the loon, I begin to question my own sanity. Am I really the only one who gets it or am I really that far off base?

Then one day my political science teacher in college gave us a research project. We were to pick one of the candidates in the upcoming presidential primaries. I picked the leader I was already following. Everyone was laughing. You picked that person? That person is an idiot, a moron.

One student got so enraged that she threatened violence and wished that my leader was killed. The professor stopped her and corrected her by telling her that she should never say stuff like that about anyone even if she disagrees with them. All around me it seemed there were a lot of people who hated this leader. I knew I’d have to be strong.

In studying this leader, I found that the leader gave a stunning speech at a Republican Party National Convention which matched every crazy thought I had in my head. I read what this leader was saying and watched this leader speak on television. One night, this leader gave a speech and I and was overwhelmed with an eye watering, warm sentimental feeling of “wow, this person gets the deal.” I’m really not crazy after all. I’m not alone.

Finally, I thought, there is someone out there who believes exactly the same thing I do and who sees it the way I see it. Whoa, how’s that for validation of one’s world view? And this person is a person of influence with power, too.

From that day forward, I would never doubt my sanity again. The uncertainty and angst I felt about my philosophy was replaced with a strength that I drew from my leader. I'd never be uncertain again. I studied it. I looked more into it. I made sure it was right. I was tired of reading the lies in the New York Times, so I started reading a wider range of other publications and learning about how conservatism works.

Now, let me let you in something I didn’t tell you until now in this article. I’m 47 years old. That experience I just described happened over 25 years ago. If you're in your 20's or late teens, you may be experiencing something similar to what I wrote. You may have a leader that you look at the same way I looked at mine.
But, you have not been where I have been. There is so much you haven't experienced yet.

You never had the honor, the privilege and the most beautiful life experience of watching a great nation being led by a great leader. You never knew what it felt like to wake up every morning knowing that when you went to work things were only getting better with each passing day. You never knew what it was like to cry tears of joy as you watched this great leader on TV stand before the Statue of Liberty on the 4th of July and talk about how great America is and then watch as fireworks are blown off like they've never been blown off before.

It was 1986 when the Statue of Liberty was restored. The statue was restored and so was our country. America really was a shining city on a hill. It really was a beautiful place. It was everything that people my age and older tell you it was.

I have been to the shining city on a hill. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. I’ve experienced it. I weep every day when I see what’s happening to my country today. I watch videos of my leader’s speeches and can’t go more than five minutes without the waterworks going off.

My leader was Ronald Reagan.

Let me take something back here that I said earlier. I said you never experienced what I experienced. Let me correct that. You are now starting to experience first hand what I experienced.

When I look out over the youth of America and I see kids who are the age I was when Ronald Reagan was coming into the presidency, I beam with an overwhelming sense of hope and optimism. I watch today’s youth struggle with the Obama years much the same way I struggled with the Carter years.

I watch today’s youth experience an awakening much like mine was in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. Go study the Carter and Reagan years. You will be amazed at the striking the similarities are to how it is now.

If you want to know what my leader was like, look at your leader. Know that your leader can be a part of a similar experience to what I had when my leader brought us home to morning in America.

If it is going to happen again, the youth of today are going to have to fight harder than they ever have. They are the new hands that will write today's modern updated version of the American story. My leader was Ronald Reagan. Your leader is Sarah Palin. She needs your support.

Your leader knows my leader. In fact, your leader is the same age as I am. Follow her. She knows how to get back to the shining city on a hill because, like me, she’s been there already.

I can’t tell you what a thrill it will be to see it happen all over again through your youthful eyes.

Why It's So Important We Get People to See 'The Undefeated'

This is a transcript of Patrick's World USA BlogTalk Radio show that will air today.

I’m not one to be defeatist, but the closest thought that threatens my optimism is the notion that the American people could potentially fail at the ballot box again in 2012 just as they did in 2008. The outcome of the 2010 elections gives me hope, yet considering that Harry Reid and Lisa Murkowski were reelected to the Senate and that Jerry Brown was elected as Governor of California leaves room for angst about what could go wrong in 2012.

Thomas Jefferson believed strongly that a well informed electorate was necessary in order for our system of government to work properly. He also recognized that there would be times when the citizenry would not be well informed. He wrote:

The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty....

Many of Jefferson’s statements would be considered radically right wing by today’s liberal standards. In fact, many of our founders’ ideas are attacked regularly by progressives and undermined by President Obama’s policies. The mere thought that people would be in such open opposition to the ideas of our founders would have been political heresy 25 years ago. Today, this opposition is not only open, it is in power.

Our presidential elections are no longer a national referendum on patriotically based competing ideas. They have become an up and down vote on the actual letter and intent of our nation’s very founding. The fact that we are even talking about the possible reelection of a man who has filled his administration with people who think like Van Jones is just bone chilling.

Alexis deTocqueville may have written about tyranny of the majority, but what about tyranny of the minority. How is it that we ended up with ObamaCare against the will of the people? If he was alive today and asked, he would probably observe that the judicial branch would eventually be the check on that tyranny as well in the same way by overturning it (which it is in the process of doing now). But would he or any of the other great analysts of the American democratic experiment ever foresee its demise in the complete and utter collapse of its very underpinnings and the outright ignoring and dismissal of its foundation documents?

World history shows us a disturbing pattern when examining the rise and fall of global super powers. From ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome through the British Empire, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, history is littered with stories of the rise and fall of powerful nations. The only two countries which have not succumbed to this trend are China and The United States (although The United States is showing signs that it’s next).

China is not the best example of a government which values human rights and affords its citizens a wide array of freedom, but it is an example of how a country that remains true to its historical and traditional roots is able to survive for eons in a world as volatile as ours. If America is to survive as long as China has, it too must remain true to its founding values and historical traditions.

America, though, seems more intent on following the model of ancient Rome where the empire grows to the point of complacency and decadence before losing its nature and status. N.S. Gill at About.Com The Fall of Rome writes:

Many say the Fall of Rome was an ongoing process, lasting more than a century. Since Rome still exists, it is argued that it never fell. Some prefer to say that Rome adapted rather than fell.

The scariest word in that quote is the word adapted. The Fall of America is an ongoing process, lasting more than a century. Since America will still exist if Obama is reelected to a second term, many will prefer to say that America adapted rather than fell.

The America that adapts will also lose its economic and military superpower nature and status as well. America’s founders loathed tyranny and warned against it emphatically and repeatedly. When historians look back on the 2012 election, will they mark this time in our history as confirmation that 2008 was the time when tyranny triumphed and American exceptionalism died or will they see it as a wake up call which America heeded just in the nick of time?

Liberals and statists think big government is good because it can save us from ourselves by controlling our behavior right down to the french fry we eat or the lightbulb we use. But like chemotherapy, government bureaucracy and nanny state laws make no distinction between bad cells and good cells; nor does statism cure the ill it is designed to stop. It is this scorched earth policy of regulating everything for the good of all that strangles our small businesses and eats away at the dollars we earn and the productivity that allows us to earn them.

Jay Clarke at American Thinker gives more examples of how tyranny has grown under Obama. He writes:

By definition, tyranny is the "arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power." Whether it's Congressional oversight, court orders, or the American People, Obama is well-versed in circumventing any authority that may seek to limit his acquisition of power.

Though unpopular, unwanted, and un-Constitutional, he rammed a $2-trillion healthcare bill down the throats of an unwilling American people and then defied court orders restricting its implementation. He has violated the War Powers Act in Libya and has ignored court orders regarding his moratorium on offshore drilling.

In a move worthy of any would-be tyrant, Obama has proposed illegally requiring businesses competing for government contracts to disclose their political contributions.

Clearly in violation of the 4^th Amendment, Obama and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano applaud the TSA's warrantless groping of men, women, children, the elderly, and the infirm during airport screenings that reek of police state tactics.

The Justice Department has gone rogue too, ceasing defense of The Defense of Marriage Act and prosecution of hate crimes when the victims are white. Attorney General Eric Holder refused to prosecute the New Black Panther Party when members brandished clubs, made ethnic slurs, and threatened white voters attempting to enter the polls.

Obama's federal power-grab has expanded into suing and threatening states. He sued Arizona for daring to enforce immigration law and joined a lawsuit against Indiana's defunding of Planned Parenthood. The ATF is pressuring Montana and 7 additional states for passing the Firearms Freedom Act which restricts Federal regulation of firearms made and sold within the states' borders. Obama even threatened to declare the entire state of Texas a "no fly zone" should the Texas legislature criminalize TSA screening procedures.

As a raw, political tactic Obama has refused to secure the southern border while Americans die on American soil at the hands of criminal illegal aliens. Undaunted, lawless Obama used executive powers to enact immigration policies through the back door, bypassing Congress and the rule of law.

When Obama's Cap and Trade carbon-taxing scheme failed in Congress, he simply had the EPA declare carbon to be a toxic pollutant and open to regulation.

There are still too many in the electorate who fear the media perpetrated myths and misperceptions of what a deregulated business environment or entitlement reform would look like under a conservative president than fear the reality of skyrocketing unemployment, the destruction of the housing market and the ever growing dependence on foreign oil at the expense of our ability to create jobs, wealth and security by drilling more here at home.

Defeating Barack Obama in 2012 should not be viewed as having to chop off our leg to save our body. It should be viewed as making a difficult but rewarding change to American life similar to that of an addict who faces his addiction head on, seeks help and comes out a better more successful person. America can be like Glenn Beck or it can be like John Edwards. It has a choice.

Luckily for America, voting trends show that Americans vote their pocketbooks. In 1992, it was the economy, stupid. In 1980, Americans voted against Jimmy Carter more so than they voted for Reagan during that disastrous economy. What’s puzzling, though, is that the complicit media and uninformed citizens still believe Obama can win in 2012 despite presiding over what appears to be the beginnings of a depression. I share Newt Gingrich’s assessment that we are in a depression. The housing market is worse than it ever was during the great depression and real unemployment is anywhere between 16% - 22% depending on which economist you talk to.

Republicans should use this opportunity to renew and restore its party just as much as our nation has an opportunity to renew and restore itself. If the GOP doesn’t present a gutsy and clear contrast to what Obama stands for, the message will be muddled and the voters will go about the election as if it’s business as usual or become apathetic. It will be important that the Republican nominee articulate the conservative philosophy effectively and renew and restore the party’s platform while exciting the country about solutions that can bring an end to our economic woes.

Despite concerns about the “electability” of some of the candidates, whoever gets the GOP nomination is going to win it because they are the hardest worker, most effective campaigner and has the most energized and enthusiastic base. If It turns out to be someone the establishment is uncomfortable with, too bad. We have had over a century of leadership from elites and establishment types and look at where we are. Returning to business as usual after Obama is out is not going to fix our problems long term.

But, at the same time, regardless of whom the Republicans nominate, if the people don’t recognize Obama’s disastrous presidency as an existential threat to the future of America as we know it, it won’t matter. If Obama gets reelected, you can fold the board up and go home. The game will be over.

The Republicans will not lose the election because of who they nominate. The only way they will lose the election is if the American people allow themselves to be duped again the way they were in 2008. We may wake up the morning after the 2012 election and see Reagan-like electoral numbers or we may wake up the next morning and begin our new lives in a declining European socialist-style democracy, learning to live the way people do now in Greece.

It’s imperative that our electoral strategy should focus on educating the public on the current state of the economy and linking it to Obama’s radical agenda. Republicans should focus on defusing media myths and convincing the public to do their own research. The only way to make this sale is to make sure the American people know that the media lies.

Choosing a strong, energizing and charismatic leader that can bring the Republican Party back in line with its Reagan roots and the basics of Constitutional government is not only key to victory in 2012 but key to long term recovery and return to excellence. In the general election, the stakes will be high. Whoever defeats Obama will have to take on the daunting but feasible task of restoring America.

Ultimately, whoever wins the presidential election is going to win it because America is going to make a final choice as to which direction it wants to go in: Constitutional limited government or big government nanny state. Ronald Reagan said that given the facts the American people will make the right decision every time. Let’s hope he’s still right.

Now let’s talk about Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin Has Walked the hot coals.

We need a time tested warrior to fix our country. Don’t be fooled by the demagoguery that lurks in the Republican Party. Replacing Obama with just another Republican, or a generic Republican as the polls suggest, may end the socialism and reckless spending, but it won’t fix our systemic problems long term. Returning to business as usual means a continuation of crony capitalism – a false brand of capitalism that relies on the lobbying and the legislative process to choose winners and losers based on who you know rather than what you do. Crony capitalism exists under both traditionally Democrat and Republican systems. A truly conservative system with a libertarian flavor almost came into full existence under Ronald Reagan, but was not allowed to take root and grow past the elections of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. We need to pick it up where Reagan left off.

It will take the election of a citizen politician like Sarah Palin who has run businesses, regulatory agencies and governments in order to de-institutionalize all the nonsense we have in our system and re-institutionalize in our culture a sense that governing ourselves from the bottom up rather than the top down is the key to restoring American exceptionalism and to providing a perpetual path for growth for future generations.

It will take someone who has already been battle tested and has who survived the ridicule of the Left and the doubters in the establishment to prove beforehand that they have the courage to flip the tables and upset the apple carts that need to be upset in order to clean house so that a new philosophy and strategy can take root. It will take a spine of steel for our next president to make this happen. We can’t roll the dice on unproven candidates or those who have not walked across the coals already.

If We Fight, The Future is Bright

As we journey toward our future, we take solace in one great notion: socialism and statism is a failure. Under the regulation of liberals, our financial system collapsed and we now head more and more towards government control over our economy. Punishing, over-taxing or over-regulating honest businesses or destroying the capitalist environment in which they flourish is not the answer. If an incompetent, corrupt and insolvent government regulated the private sector into incompetency, corruption and insolvency, what makes anyone think the government is still the solution?

We must remember, many of these banks failed because of government regulation, not because of the lack thereof. Government forced them to write bad loans. We must consider how many businesses fail because they are overly regulated or because they were destroyed by ruinous legal proceedings that occurred in the grey areas and fringes of the regulatory and legal tort system. These are the techniques liberals have been using to encourage the destruction of the capitalist system since the New Deal. They now call on their messiah to finish the job.

Because of capitalism's cyclical nature, recessionary periods are viewed as prime opportunities for the destroyers to come back out of their holes and repeat the same old Keynesian failures of the past. They bring their old style socialism dressed in a new style suit. Once again, they offer no new alternatives, just recycled garbage dressed as something different.

Sarah Palin writes in her latest Facebook post "The Sugar Daddy Has Run Out of Sugar; Now We Need New Leaders":

The same “experts” who got us into this mess are now telling us that the only way out of our debt crisis is to “increase revenue,” but not by creating more jobs and therefore a larger tax base; no, they want to “increase revenue” by raising taxes on job creators who are taxed enough already! As Margaret Thatcher said, “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” That’s where we are now. Hard working taxpayers have been big government’s Sugar Daddy for far too long, and now we’re out of sugar. We don’t want big government, we can’t afford it, and we are unwilling to pay for it.

The stimulus plan has failed. That flushing sound you heard in 2009 was $800 billion dollars in stimulus money going down the drain. As Mark Levin said on his radio show Friday, we pissed that money away. The next flush you hear are jobs going down the toilet.

Conservatives are optimists. We believe in the American people and confidently await the day they wake up and reject this "Obamanation." We must realize deep down inside that's where we're headed if we don't stop Obama's radical agenda with a positive and courageous message that can capture those who are soon to be disillusioned. We can optimistically tell our fellow country men that there is a correct way to do things, and if we are willing to embrace the correct way of doing things, we once again can rise to the greatness we once were.

The first step is to defeat the media. They lied to us. They gave us Obama. The next step is to be courageous. If we are willing to take the risk to go with a leader who is gutsy enough to take the system apart, renew and restore it, we can win. If we are willing to fight, our future is bright. Sarah Palin is that leader. The new movie, The Undefeated explains why.

Rob Cunningham at American Thinker nails it dead on.

The Undefeated "brilliantly serves as a modern-day case study, and clearly illustrates how our agenda-driven news media, entertainment industry and political power brokers brazenly operate, in plain view and with cold-blooded intentionality, in a tireless attempt to destroy a very decent fellow citizen. When presented with basic facts, Americans will recoil in disgust."

Despite our election loss in 2008, we take solace in the words of Ronald Reagan: "Don't get cynical because, look at yourselves and what you were willing to do and recognize that there are millions and millions of Americans out there that want what you want, that want it to be that way, that want it to be a shining city on the hill."

If you don’t listen to anything Sarah Palin says, listen to this one part from her Facebook note. The entire answer, yes the entire solution to our economic problems is in this one paragraph. It not only gives us the answer, it gives us the reason to be optimistic. Remember this line, go to her Facebook Page and study it, and understand why this is exactly what Ronald Reagan meant about unleashing our industrial giant when he give his inauguration speech in 1981. Sarah Palin writes:

Real hope comes from realizing how God has blessed our exceptional nation, and then doing something about it. We have been blessed with natural resources, hardworking entrepreneurs, and a Constitution that preserves the greatest form of government ever devised by man. If we develop those natural resources, allow our entrepreneurs to keep and invest more of what they earn, and adhere to the time-tested truths of our Constitution, we will prosper and endure.

It’s time to wake up, America. The binge is over. Had we had the fortitude to go through the shakes and withdrawal symptoms necessary to fix our problem three years ago, we’d be through the worst part of the pain by now. But because we kicked the can down the road, it’s only getting worse. It’s now or never. Fix it or die. The answer is common sense and it’s right in front us.

Go take people who are not yet convinced about Sarah Palin to The Undefeated this Friday. Go online and look up where it’s showing and where you can get tickets. It’s imperative that we convince Americans why Sarah Palin is our next great one and why it’s so important for her to lead us as our president.

This is not a fan club. We’re not campaigning for Sarah Palin because she looks good in a jogging suit on the cover of Newsweek. We’re campaigning for Sarah Palin because our country’s life is on the line. This election is do or die. While there are other good strong conservative candidates out there, Sarah Palin is our best and greatest hope.

Memories of the Fourth of July - 2 Years Later

-from Patrick's World USA

It's been two years since Sarah Palin resigned as Alaska's governor. It's incredible how so much has happened since then. What she has accomplished these the past two years while withstanding the most intense smear campaign ever against an American citizen is simply amazing.

Sarah Palin with son Trig, and daughter Piper holding grandson Tripp Johnston watch fireworks on 4th of July evening at a beach near Todd's parents house in Dillingham, Alaska on Sarah Palin's Alaska.

Let's look at the last two years in order to explain why Sarah Palin is extremely qualified to be president. Her work ethic is astounding. In the past two years, she has written numerous Facebook Notes which delve deeply into policy (her critics called her a lightweight two years ago and still do today). She has written two books (her critics didn't even think she read newspapers). She produced and starred in Sarah Palin's Alaska, a television series that educated America on Alaska while allowing them to get a glimpse of her and her family interacting with her state's natural beauty (her critics thought she was turning her back on Alaska). She has appeared numerous times on the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business channel. She has given speeches, many of which were done on a charitable basis or for the purpose of fundraising for some very great causes besides her own political cause.

Oh, let's not forget that in between tweets, speeches, Fox News appearances, book writing and Facebook posting, she managed to put together this thing called SarahPac and was instrumental in helping a lot of conservatives and Tea Party candidates get elected in the 2010 elections.

There is probably a lot more that I've overlooked or forgotten. But, the point is this: who is humanly capable of doing all that in two years and if someone is capable of handling that kind of a workload and accomplishing so much of what she's done in two years, wouldn't that person make a great president?

Her accomplishments clearly outshine those of Barack Obama who has made vacationing, golf and basketball his only real accomplishments outside of signing off on the killing of Osama bin Laden. Yes, I give him credit for that. It took less than an hour to complete a mission that was prepared for by the Bush Administration. What has he done with the other 1 year, 364 days and 23 hours? He has given us the disaster that is Obamacare and he has implemented policies that are destroying the American economy.

The Palin army has come a long way since two years ago. Her resignation didn't destroy her. It made her stronger. Her army didn't shrink; it grew. She is considered a top tier candidate for the presidency should she decide to throw her hat in the ring (writers note: please do, please, please). The smear campaign didn't ruin her image; it backfired into 24,000 pages of emails which demonstrated how effective a governor she was and it motivated the creation of "The Undefeated." There's egg on all faces there, lefties.

So let's party like it's January 21, 2013 this Independence Day. I hope and pray that everyone's 4th of July is not just to celebrate the past but to look to a future when we renew and restore the United States of America.

And let's also remember what it was like two years ago when I wrote about it last year :

Last year was the roughest Fourth of Julys I can ever remember.  I had my Palin shirt, my Gadsden flag and a cooler full of cold beer and good food all ready. Even though it was the beginning of the Obama years, I wasn't going to let his America - a lackluster apologetic weak excuse of a nation - interfere with my celebration of my America - the shining city on a hill. It was going to be my way of declaring Sarah Palin as my real leader and the successor in my heart to Ronald Reagan. I was at Virginia Beach when a friend of mine called me on the beach to tell me that Sarah Palin had resigned.

When I went up to the deck, Stuart Varney replayed Sarah Palin's speech on Fox News. I watched stunned as the pundits talked about a possible FBI investigation and how the frivolous ethics violations had cost her and the state of Alaska a fortune. I was alone in the wilderness. Obama was leading my country off a cliff and my leader just stepped down from her position of power. I felt like I wanted to throw up.

There was a 5 minute period during the entire time I was at my friend's condo when his son was not on the laptop, so I read everything I could about her resignation the next morning which was July 4, 2009.

Sarah Palin called her minions in off the ledge with a tweet (link no longer available - emphasis is mine): "Critics are spinning, so hang in there as they feed false info on the right decision made as I enter last yr in office to not run again...." On her Facebook page, she wrote (emphasis is again mine):

I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!

She put her resignation speech on her Facebook page underneath the headline which included these words: "it is good, stay tuned." I read the speech and this line jumped out at me (emphasis not mine - Sarah capitalized the word TRUST):

I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision - but it's no more "politics as usual".

I'm a political science guy who was taught from the textbook in college. It would have been easy to draw a conclusion that she was done. A friend told me it was her "Checkers" speech. It would have been just as easy to get off the emotional rollercoaster of being a Sarah Palin fan at that point. But she said the right words when she was talking to her fans. She was talking to us. She was talking to me. She was asking me to hang in, join her, TRUST her. And like I did before when the media lies were going un-debunked before the Palinista presence we have on the web today, I decided to listen to her.

I wrote:

Take a deep breath. There are 3 1/2 years left until the 2012 presidential election. A lot can happen. Sarah Palin holds the answer. Whether it works or not is totally up to her now. With more freedom to control her brand, her future will no longer be in the hands of an unchecked hostile media that spreads lies about her.

We will be participants in a future political science lesson that has yet to reveal its answer to us.

I deferred the future to Sarah, knowing that the only way to explain the resignation could not be done until after the fact. Now that it is after the fact, I can explain it. I also know that I was right to trust her.

I put on my Sarah Palin shirt last Fourth of July and flew that Gadsden flag that day. When someone commented on my shirt "looks like your girl's in trouble," I hid my concern and simply told him, "nah, she's just getting ready to run in 2012."

Now that the emotion and the uncertainty of last year's Fourth of July is over. Let's do this again right this time. I'm wearing the shirt again this year and this time I'm really going to enjoy it.

It's a year since Sarah resigned. Since then she has made over $12 million dollars and her PAC has donated tens of thousands to political campaigns across the country. She is a best selling author, Fox News contributor, professional speaker and a documentarian. Did I mention she's in the top tier of contenders for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012? Resignation, smesignation.

In 2010, I will shoot off my fireworks off at make believe Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds in Afghanistan. And despite my disgust at the Obama administration, I believe in the American people. I believe we will get the bum out of office. Five years from now, it will be morning in America. And kid's who weren't alive when Reagan was president will be able to graduate college and go wide-eyed into a world with unlimited potential. The economy will be cranking, the job market will be great and we will be militarily strong. The terrorists will be on the brink of collapse.

It will be morning in America again. Sarah Palin will give her "Statue of Liberty" speech and we will beam with pride and joy over our great nation and the great woman who will be leading it.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! And God bless Sarah Palin and the United States of America.