"Fringier and Fringier": Palin on Church & State

by Damozel | For example, TPM reports that Palin's husband Todd was a member of the Alaska Independence Party for several years. (TPM)

The AP describes the Alaskan Independence Party as "a fierce states' rights group." (AP)  But though Dems are being rebuked for questioning Palin's affiliation with the AIP---she was never a member, it seems (AP) ---it's hard to disregard the fact that her husband Todd was apparently a member for several years:

Todd Palin, husband of Sarah, was a member of the secessionist Alaska Independence Party from 1995 through 2002.  That's the information we just got from the Alaska Division of elections.

Probably not coincidentally, 2002 was the first time Sarah Palin ran for statewide office in Alaska. (TPM)

See also the L.A. Times.

I don't see how this isn't significant.  Besides, Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, came right out and said that the McCain campaign is all about about making the campaign about personalities.  All righty, then. 

I never in my life heard about the Alaskan Independence Party till yesterday.  Here's what The L.A. Times says about the AIP.

The Alaskan Independence Party, founded in 1978, initially promoted "the Alaskan independence movement." But now, according to its website, "its primary goal is merely a vote on secession."(the L.A. Times)

This is from their website:

The Alaskan Independence Party can be summed up in just two words:

ALASKA FIRST!

The Alaskan Independence Party's goal is the vote we were entitled to in 1958, one choice from among the following four alternatives:

1) Remain a Territory.
    2) Become a separate and Independent Nation.
    3) Accept Commonwealth status.
    4) Become a State.

The call for this vote is in furtherance of the dream of the Alaskan Independence Party's founding father, Joe Vogler, which was for Alaskans to achieve independence under a minimal government, fully responsive to the people, promoting a peaceful and lawful means of resolving differences.

The L.A. Times has more:

I'm an Alaskan, not an American," Vogler is quoted as saying  elsewhere on the party’s website. "I've got no use for America or her damned institutions."

The party supports a plebiscite on four options that it says Alaskans were entitled to vote on before becoming a state in 1959: Form a sovereign nation of their own, become a state, accept commonwealth status similar to Puerto Rico's, or remain a U.S. territory.

Leaders of the party say many of its 13,681 registered members have joined out of frustration over restrictions that the federal government has placed on the use of its vast land holdings in Alaska. Beyond the secession vote, the party also advocates gun rights, home schooling and abolition of property taxes.

Speaking of their founding father, Joe Vogler, who vanished in 1993:  His remains were discovered in October of 1994.  From The New York Times:

The blue tarp and duct tape in which the remains were wrapped, officials said, matched a description given by a convicted thief, Manfred West, who confessed last summer that he had killed Mr. Vogler in a plastic-explosives sale gone bad and had then buried him.

Um....plastic explosives sale?  Really? 

TPM fills in some background:

The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government," Vogler said in the interview, in which he talked extensively about his desire for Alaskan secession, the key goal of the AIP.

"And I won't be buried under their damn flag," Vogler continued in the interview, which also touched on his disappointment with the American judicial system. "I'll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home."

At another point, Volger advocated renouncing allegiance to the United States. In the course of denouncing Federal regulation over land, he said:

"And then you get mad. And you say, the hell with them. And you renounce allegiance, and you pledge your efforts, your effects, your honor, your life to Alaska."

In addition,

The AIP is Proud to support Bob Bird for the Senate of the United States. For more information on Mr. Bird, please visit his web site. We have also endorsed the Presidential candidacy of the Constitution Party, Charles Baldwin.

Here's a quote from Mr. Bird's site:

The IRS, Federal Reserve, No Child Left Behind, the Department of Education, the Patriot Act, the Department of Homeland Security, and FISA all make it increasingly difficult to describe our nation as FREE.

Bob will fight to eliminate these and many other unconstitutional programs.

You can read up on the Constitution party and its principles yourself.  Those interested are invited to "Join the Constitution Party in its work to restore our government to its Constitutional limits and our law to its Biblical foundations."

Ezra Klein, who is of course transcendent [via], says:

Turns out that the Alaskan Independence Party is also the Alaskan affiliate of the American Constitution Party, which is basically a third party that demands the institution of a Christian theocracy.....This is all getting fringier and fringier. (American Prospect; emphasis added)

Sarah Palin may not be a member, but she's certainly been supportive of their goals:

[B]ack home, she has cheered the work of a tiny party that long has pushed for a statewide vote on whether Alaska should secede from those same United States. And her husband, Todd, was a member of the party for seven years.

"Keep up the good work," Sarah Palin told members of the Alaskan Independence Party in a videotaped speech to their convention six months ago in Fairbanks. She wished the party luck on what she called its "inspiring convention."(the L.A. Times)

If the AIP and its separatist supporters get their way, and they vote to secede, will John McCain say, "Today, we are all Alaskans"? 

Doubtful. 

Furthermore, Palin---who IS NOT NOW, NOR HAS SHE EVER BEEN, A MEMBER OF AIP---has some worrying ideas about God and God's plan for us.

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

Religion, however, was not strictly a thread in Palin's foreign policy. It was part of her energy proposals as well. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska's governor asked the audience to pray for another matter -- a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.  (HuffPost)

The HuffPost has a video of Palin explaining her views, as well some sermons by her pastor which are, as noted, indeed eyebrow raising. 

During the 2004 election season, he praised President Bush's performance during a debate with Sen. John Kerry, then offered a not-so-subtle message about his personal candidate preferences. "I'm not going tell you who to vote for, but if you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation. I'm sorry." Kalnins added: "If every Christian will vote righteously, it would be a landslide every time."

Months after hinting at possible damnation for Kerry supporters, Kalnins bristled at the treatment President Bush was receiving over the federal government's handling of Hurricane Katrina. "I hate criticisms towards the President," he said, "because it's like criticisms towards the pastor -- it's almost like, it's not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell. That's what it'll get you."

Much of his support for the current administration has come in the realm of foreign affairs. Kalnins has preached that the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq were part of a "world war" over the Christian faith, one in which Jesus Christ had called upon believers to be willing to sacrifice their lives.  (HuffPost; emphasis)

There's lots more at HuffPost about her church, though that's about all I need to know.  I grew up in the midst of members of the Church of God and the Holy Spirit without Jesus.  I maintain that they're about as wrong about Christ as it's possible to be.  If you think differently, well....I question your salvation, that's all.  I'm sorry.

[Kidding!  Jesus plainly said that no human is either entitled to nor capable of assessing the worth of another in the eyes of God.  I guess this slipped the good reverend's mind.  God's tolerance and love are beyond humanity, so it's quite possible God might like you anyway.  And I agree with Kalnins about one thing:   If every Christian voted righteously, it would be a landslide every time.  Just not for the GOP.]

Mudflats, the progressive Alaskan blog, says:

[T]he press, bloggers, and curious citizens are now McCain’s post-facto vetting team, and they are opening can after can of worms....

How will the Republican party and the pundits handle Palin’s “Reverend Wright Moment”? Did McCain vet her on matters of her religious ties, knowing how devastating the impact of his church selection turned out to be for Obama? You’d think. But maybe McCain knew all along, and thought it was no big deal. Which scenario is more sobering? And how do non-Christians in the rest of the country and in Alaska feel about the “end times” philosophy of this church?

What Reverend Wright moment, you ask?  This:

There has always been an invisible enemy. What you see in Iraq, basically, is a manifestation of what’s going on in this unseen world called the spirit world. … We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct.

We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. … Jesus called us to die....Listen, you know we can’t even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. … I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say “war mode.” Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he’s like the good shepherd, he’s loving all the time and he’s kind all the time. Oh yes he is — but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war.  (Mudflats)

Yes, it's not much like the Quakers....we always think of Jesus as in a "peace mode."  Everyone say "peace mode"! 

People say that we should leave Palin alone.  I agree with those who say that she is important mainly for what she tells us about McCain. 

But who she is isn't irrelevant.   How can it be?  She clearly wasn't chosen for any other reason other than who she is---and Ricky Davis seems to be saying that the McCain camp wants the race to be about personalities. 

Why, then, is it wrong for Dems to want to find out everything possible about her?  We didn't open her can of worms; McCain and Palin herself did that.  Why should we be blamed for looking at the contents once they start slithering out?  Or for screeching, "Ew!  Ew!  Ew!" or pointing and laughing if that's how what we see strikes us? 

Furthermore, her presence on the ticket is surely an indication of her aspiration to become the leader of the free world.  As VP, she would be McCain's chosen successor and the person who will step in if he becomes ill during his tenure. 

If McCain's people couldn't be bothered to vet her, it's up to everyone else.  And---to quote Ezra Klein one more time, the stories are getting "fringier and fringier."

More about her church's influence at memeorandum here.

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Comments

[David Gerard]

Leave Sarah alone, you bastards! http://notnews.today.com/2008/09/03/mccain-leave-palin-alone/

[Deb Cupples]

Mr. Gerard,

How could anyone refuse such a polite request?

[eyaz]

In spite of the great success with her speech, yesterday, I can't entirely rid myself of the suspicion that she was brought in so quickly to 1) resign her nomination after being a major "victim of the attack media" ... sort of like a Harriet Myers situation but very much on crack, so that someone else whom they planned all along to nominate can step in and seem a true moderate by contrast (Huckabee? He's more likable to moderates, he's more qualified, yet he's also a clergyman, which had to have been a problem with G.O.P. strategists for a V.P. nomination regarding Huckabee) and 2) openly escalate the "culture war" divisions in America with this speech last night, and more to come, which would be further heightened by her having to quit the race, and thereby still energizing that "God-fearing base" that all the experts, until last night, were claiming would stay home on Election Day.

If this scenario seems too weird to anyone, just think about how things looked last week in contrast to late last night, and think how very non-plussed and truly amazed many commentators are at this sudden "new presence on the Right" and all of that. Really extraordinary. The entire thing does feel like Karl Rove hasn't been in any sort of retirement mode, at all.