Palin and the right to privacy: Becoming what we hate

My friends, we had better be careful.  Very careful.  

I never thought on this open 'progressive' site, I would ever see the day when plausibility would be offered as proof, conjecture as confirmation, implication as fact or presupposition as evidence.  We have turned our fear of a heaven forbid McCain presidency into a runaway train rush to attack and destroy the very tenet we claim he and his bosses want to take from us.              

Because Sarah Palin is an elected public figure, she accepts the responsibilities of seeking and receiving the public trust.  By her acceptance of this trust, she is accountable.  If she took a bribe, fired someone for political reasons, abused her position in disrespect to the honor of that trust, sold her influence or broke a written law, I would understand the public sentiment of betraying that trust and the resulting call for a concerted response with all vigor.  I would share in the call to hold her accountable and to answer.  

But this is not about that.  This is private.  A fellow U.S. citizen's personal family issue. We can have and will have opinions about her and whatever her and her family choices were and are, and we are free to respond with our own personal thoughts and opinions accordingly.  But we have no right, either in the spirit of or on the books, to step inside her and her family's right to keep private that which is private, lest we wish our own privacies be treated with the same callousness we are showing her.  

Remember the old adage to becoming what we hate.  We are being as impersonal as a patriot missile and Rovian in the truest sense of the word. Alberto Gonzales could not have been more abusive of her than we are being.  As he boldly told Congress that we have no habeas corpus, we are telling Mrs. Palin and her family that they have no privacy.  None. We are telling her that her privacy belongs to us.  That we determine what her truth means. 

This is her private truth, whatever it is, and it is our duty to protect that.  If she were to come on TV and radio and say to us "It's none of your damn business," I would hope and pray we would applaud. 

And remember where we all live.  Please.  Think about this.  Every day, we rail at preemptive war. At the callous abuse of preemptive and illegal policing within the city limits of our own country. We applaud those who stand up to those who attempt to claim nothing is sacred anymore.  Personal information that once was protected as personal and private is now taken from us under the guise of protecting us.  From who?  Ourselves?  You know what we are doing?  By our efforts here, we are but filling out our resumes to join the thought police.  This is preemptive journalism of the worst kind.  

Remember this, too.  By our daily grinding here at OpEd and elsewhere on these last remaining places left to us for free and honest dialogue, we do our best with our sweat, passion, dedication, words and tireless effort to protect the very tenet of what we claim this country stands for.  To protect the individual right of each one of us to choose, decide and determine what is best for them.  As long as is does not infringe on another, this pursuit of happiness as determined by the pursuer is the grail we have long lauded as our beacon.  Do I have to link the 9,000+ articles on this site to prove my point?  Whatever Mrs. Palin and her family's personal and private truth is, it is their business.  Period. 

I expect to be ridiculed, attacked and chastised for this post.  I expect some of you will make the argument that Mrs. Palin's daughter being 17 is proof that Mr. and Mrs. Palin have done irreparable harm within their own family.  That Mrs. Palin has a character flaw that precludes her from being the potential heartbeat away from the presidency.  Ok fair enough.  Then don't vote for her. Send her your message.  Send her back to Alaska.  But, I'll tell you what.  If the people of this country don't respect each others privacy, what message does that send?  

Not only will I not argue these points, neither will I debate them.  I will not betray what I believe we are betraying. 

Rail all you want.  Have me banned.  Call me a wuss.  Make your arguments.  Spin the bottle. 

I am sorry, but we are dangerously close to becoming exactly what we despise. 

peace