The Spaces in Between
I'm not going to address the shameful behavior that mainstream media has exhibited re: Gov. Palin. Let them wallow in that sewer. Instead, the pick of Gov. Palin has set a large part of the Right positively on fire, myself included. I may be only speaking for myself but an element of Palin's popularity rests on the symbolism her nomination representgs for the future direction of Republicanism and/or conservatism.

From my personal vantage point, the western brand of Palin's politics is an attractive counterpoint to other directions within the Right. Generally speaking, the western brand of conservatism trends libertarian, guided by an intrinsic understanding that there are spaces within life that are not ultimately guided by politics nor political considerations. Western conservatism is roundly optimistic and entrepreneurial in outlook. The vastness of the geography of the west is infused within the spirit of this outlook. The geographic spaces also work on the political subconscious. The westerner is their own free-agent in this physical space. So too does this translate in the social sphere - one should be free within and from politics.

The 18th century British Tory parliamentarian Edmund Burke (whose thought helped shaped the underpinnings of modern conservative philosophy) argued for a limited politics. Indeed, he understood that life operated within differing institutions that were not motivated by political passions: Family life, leisure life, religious life, patriotic life (patriotic in the sense that the traditions and culture of the nation were separate from the daily passions that were ever-changing). The Burkean view held that politics held its place within life but it was not all-encompassing. This inalienable right to a life of the non-political necessarily argued for a politics limited in reach and influence. Burke understood that man can sometimes be driven by the totalitarian impulse to coerce other men. The totalitarian drive would invariably intrude upon the non-political spheres of life and degrade the life of the individual as they became increasingly subservient to the all-encompassing whims of the driving political will.

The denial of the totalitarian passion is something conservatives struggle with and the Left does not. The Left believes everything is political and therefore subject to political engineering without any kind of brake to avoid domineering hubris or overreach. An example to illustrate this can be summed up by an understanding of the judicial philosophy of Originalism. The originalist view of judicial review is guided by the approach that the original intent of the words written in the US Constitution or its accompanying Amendments, at the time the words were written, is the boundary by which any modern law must abide by. Overstep the boundary of the intent, and the law is invalid. If new intent is to be written into the Constitution, the amendment process is the vehicle to do so - not to be done instead through judicial pronouncement as others would argue. The opposition to Originalism is argued most decidedly by Living Constiutionalists who view that Constitution as a document made malleable through ever changing judicial interpretation - whose intent and meaning can change depending on the political whims of those in a position to decide. The takeaway in this overview is that within the political approach to Originalism, the approach is bounded by the original intent as inferred within the words as originally written. The expansive view of the Living Constitutionalists don't subscribe to such views. Instead they opt for the ever-expansive application of the politically desirable without limitation. One can see the minimalist and maximalist approaches of Originalism and Living Constitutionalism, Originalist reach held in check by its own rules and limits versus the totalitarian free-for-all of the Living Constitutionalist approach.

Republican politics in recent years has been disregarding it's Burkean tradition of working within its self-applied limits. Big Government Republicanism has been seduced by the totalitarian passionate impulse - producing a government of ever-increasing reach, scope, and application. Some Republicans betrayed Burke and disregarded their disdain for government, instead embracing a more transformative and coercive politics more akin to the totalitarian drive of the Left. How Gov. Palin inspires is what she may represent for the party - a return to the Burkean tradition of limited government and keeping the non-political spheres of life (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) ever outside of politics. A politician who pursues a varied trove of hobbies with one foot planted within both the urban and the rural suggests a person deeply in touch with a variety of non-political spheres of American life and one with an antipathy for political maximalism. Such a politician is refreshing and suggests the possibility of a new champion for the wisdom of Burke and keeping, for a few years longer, the totalitarian impulse from sweeping America irretrievably away.